CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- In hot summer in Chongqing, many bookstores are a good place for citizens to escape from the heat waves and acquire knowledge. Why not come to a fun and beautiful bookstore where you can read your favorite books, have a cup of coffee, and find your own little universe in the bookstore at peace...

This time we are going to recommend you the following bookstores with unique charm and beautiful appearance, where you can read books of all sorts, take photos, enjoy cups of coffee, and experience the pleasures of reading paper books.

SEEUNI Travel Space

Located in Shibati, Yuzhong District and designed in a unique style, SEEUNI Travel Space has been appealing to many young people. Its exterior design blends Bayu people’s architectural style of the Republican period, the cultural implication of traditional buildings with patio – “gathering water for wealth", with the elegant elements of French style. Colored glass blocks pile up to build a creative and imaginative patio space, allowing visitors to walk through the corridor shaded with scattered light and enjoy a moment of peace and idleness.

Popular travel publications like Lonely Planet, and National Geographic, and mini interesting travel illustration books are available at the popular travel book section, creating gateways to different times and places for you.

There’s a special snack area to the left of the main door, where a row of glass cabinets are lined with all kinds of wine bottles, and a small western-style restaurant lies behind the bottles. Why not come with your friends to enjoy a pleasant afternoon of reading and lovely snacks together!

Address: No. 15, Shanguo Lane, Shibati Traditional Scenic Area, Yuzhong District
Popular Bookmall

The word “bookmall” always reminds people of the last century. Hidden in the Danzishi Old Street in Chongqing filled with retro-styled courtyard buildings, the bookmall is a quiet place amidst the noise and bustle of the street.

At the door of Popular Bookmall are seats decorated with paper umbrellas and lanterns. Plates with lines of prose poems writing on them hang in the bookstore. When you slow down and read those lines like, “Your face matches your handwriting”, “I wish to have someone like you”, and “Days were slower in the past”, you will find a different world of your own. The bookmall is a retro-styled wooden building, with a whole wall painted with trees and moose at the door, reminding you of a dreamlike world in Spirited Away. As soon as you step into the bookmall, you will be greeted with the wishing tree inside, and hear the wooden plates tied with red strings telling the history of the bookmall.

With a well-defined layout and a strong sense of period, Popular Bookmall is full of well-known sayings. The two staircases leading to the second floor are covered with book titles, giving people a feeling of progressing on the shoulders of our predecessors. The small open-air courtyard in the center of the bookmall seems like the well-arranged pavilions in ancient times. A group of middle-aged old friends sit around the table and sing snatches of songs, bringing memories of the Republic of China.

Address: 6th Floor, Building 7, Qiantai Road, Danzishi Old Street, Nan’an District
Beicang Library

Beicang Library is hidden on the 2nd floor of a simple and unsophisticated building. After climbing up the slope with characteristics of Chongqing’s “castles in the air”, and walking through a section of stairs under the shade of buildings, you will find Beicang Library, a “village amidst shading willows and blooming flowers”.

Beicang Library features unique artistic value and beautiful decoration, with its left part and right part respectively divided into internal and external spaces. There’s a wide log roof inside the building, and under the roof are rows of shoulder-high all-wooden arching bookshelves filled with books. All books in the library can be borrowed. The reading area is scattered with sofa, tables and chairs.

Most of the books in the library are about design, art, handicrafts and life aesthetics. Comics, movies and love literature are also available to satisfy your needs of daily reading. You can come here to read books in your spare time, borrow or sell books. When you feel tired, you can appreciate the wooden and painted dog sculptures in the bookstore, which are exquisite and lovely, and can be used as book stands or decorations.

Address: Beicang Cultural and Creative Park, 55 Taping, Jiangbei District, Chongqing

(Translated by Cai Xinyu, Fathom Language Limited)