When it comes to bookstores with high style in Shenzhen, I believe many people will invariably mention Enclave Bookstore. Opened in the summer of 2016 by the poet Zhang Er, it is a comprehensive cultural space integrating a bookstore, an art exhibition hall and a café. Enclave, or Enclave, is meant to refer to the territory and pure land of contemporary thought and spirit. Through regular public welfare literary and artistic activities such as poetry commune, enclave voice, art exhibition, etc., Enclave Bookstore is developing in the direction of "enclave" in the founder's heart.
Tucked away in an industrial area, the bookstore is surrounded by cookie-cutter buildings and tile shops, large and small. If you hadn't made a special visit, it would have been hard to imagine that there was a bookstore hidden in this featureless complex, and it was so elegant. The bookstore is on the 6th floor, which can be reached directly by elevator, and the Eight Immortals table with a sense of age is placed not far from the door, and the above is prominently displayed - Enclave Bookstore.
Unlike other bookstores, the Enclave Bookstore combines the bookstore part with the café, so the overall space is unusually spacious, especially the criss-crossing pipes on the ceiling, which are reminiscent of the avant-garde bookstore converted from an underground garage. The bookstore's selection of books includes literary epics, philosophies, films, music books, especially poetry collections, which account for a considerable part of the book, and the richness is rarely seen in bookstores. On the "Poetry Wall" that reaches to the roof, there are not only collections of works by world-renowned poets such as Yeats, Rilke, Akhmatova, and Ginsburg, but also collections of works by famous domestic poets such as Haizi, Munch, and Beidao. If you don't like any of these more famous poets, don't worry, there are many relatively unknown poets here, and there is always one that will move you.
The space enclosed by the wall and bookshelves is an activity area and a reading area, and the left side is equipped with sound and other equipment, which can be used for music performances and movie screenings, and there are more than 20 seats in normal times, but it can be expanded to accommodate more people when holding events. In addition, the art exhibition hall is on the right side of the bookstore, which is a separate room, and regularly exhibits some artists' works, but the opening hours are not synchronized with the bookstore.
As an emerging cultural landmark in Shenzhen, Enclave Bookstore has held many cultural and artistic activities since its establishment, and cultural celebrities have frequently appeared and are very lively. However, at night, when the industrial area becomes unusually deserted, and the streets leading to the bookstore are often deserted, the enclave bookstore becomes more and more like an enclave in the dim yellow light, embedded in the vast steel forest.
