Changing the bookstore's image to broaden its client base is not really an option either. Chen once put a few copies of the Harry Potter series on the shelves, but there were immediate protests from regulars. "We are who we are," Chen said.
Last year, Chen and other independent bookstore owners in the neighborhood initiated an effort to promote their businesses under the catchy moniker "Wen Luo Ding" (
"Since we have so many interesting bookstores in the neighborhood, we think it a good idea to make the area more recognizable so that when people want to buy books, they will come here, just as young kids will go to Ximending (西門町) for fashion goods," Chen said.
His life-long love affair with books led him to amass a library of thousands of titles. "When I was young, I enjoyed reading books of social and political science and economics. As a Hakka, now I am more into Taiwan studies, especially Hakka culture. Maybe someday I will publish my own Hakka study. After all, I have a publishing house to print whatever I want," Chen said laughing.
But Chen doesn't only think of himself. Like an affectionate uncle, he is always willing to lend a helping hand to people who want to publish often abstruse works that other publishers may shy away from.
In this consummerist age where style alone defines who we are, Tonshan doesn't have the glossy trappings to catch the eyes. While the youth of this generation grow up into slick white-collar yuppies favoring the more glamorous Eslite or Page One bookstores, Chen will continue to hold a torch for the spirit of youthful rebellion, and the passions and dreams of idealists.
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