Books by and for independent women

Battle of the Bookshops: 1984 in Shanghai

Since I arrived in Shanghai in February, I’ve been on the lookout for a bookshop which not only stocks English books but also has some kind of notable atmosphere. It hasn’t been easy.

I was initially impressed with Garden Books but found it to be very overpriced, and while I enjoy the little cafe with its selection of cakes and ice creams, the place has a slightly corporate feel incongruous with an independent bookshop in a somewhat ramshackle hip area.

Among the alternatives are some bigger, characterless stores on Fuzhou Road and the dodgy book stands often located near Metro stations which sell fake books. Yes, that’s right – fake books. Illegally reprinted versions, almost exactly the same as the originals but with the risk of pages being blank or missing and often with flimsy covers. Clearly there are disadvantages of this, and a stand is no place to hang out and read a book, so the search for somewhere to browse and read led me to more and more obscure locations.

Recently I discovered 1984 book store on Hunan Road, which is by no means easy to find. The entrance is an iron gate in a wall and you have to ring a bell to get in. There is no aggressive, power-wielding bouncer to greet you, but a friendly man with a penchant for collecting cats (if the sheer amount of them is anything to go by).

Once inside you will discover a range of Chinese and English books (mostly just one copy of each) as well as canvas bags, stationery and Lomography cameras by local brands and designers.

The décor is whimsical, with an eclectic mix of pictures and old records on the wall; not the clichéd classics but the likes of long-forgotten 90s pop star Cathy Dennis. The music on the stereo is often some kind of dream pop or shoegaze; a perfect accompaniment to scouring the shelves.

There is a café in the shop where you can get decent coffee – an all-too-rare commodity round these parts – and homemade cakes. The patio is a lovely place to sit in the brief periods of pleasant, not-too-hot, not-too-cold weather in Shanghai.

There are copious pot plants, an empty bird cage, an accordion, some turtles and numerous cats padding around and sleeping on chairs. Chinese magazines are provided if you’re able to read them or just enjoy flicking through and looking at the fashion photography (guilty as charged).

The indoor part of the café is characterised by art deco chairs, a Tiffany-style lamp and a glass cabinet housing several editions of the shop’s namesake. The room has a cosy red glow and would be a lovely place to sit in winter.

There are many reasons why 1984 is my favourite of all the bookshops I’ve found in this city. It may have fewer books than some, but it does have several obscure art books unavailable in most places, and the ambience more than fulfils my expectations of an arty bookshop and café.

You can take some guilty pleasure in the elitist feeling created by having to be let in (despite the lack of an actual door policy) but inside the atmosphere is friendly and unpretentious.

You can hang around for hours reading or working on your laptop, safe from the madness of the nearby streets and out of range of the incessant honking of car horns. 1984 may be hard to spot at first, but it’s easily accessible from Shanghai Library Metro station and is in the leafy French Concession where it’s worth spending time wandering round just to see what else you might find.

Alexis Somerville