Yangzhou looms large in China, as much for its physical beauty as the inspirational setting in some of the country’s most memorable literary works including the classic A Dream of Red Mansions. For generations, poets, novelists and artists alike have tried to capture the city in every imaginable medium, but probably none has done it quite like this new bookshop.
Design outfit X+Living’s Li Xiang has based the interior motif on Yangzhou’s scenic landscape of graceful high-arched bridges. The entrance doors, etched with extracts from western and Chinese novels, slide open into a room-set straight out of the hallucinogenic scenes of Inception and Doctor Strange, in which walls seem to extend upward and bend inward.
Volumes of literature, social sciences, and history line the sides of shelves that curve up towards the ceiling like the underbelly of an arched bridge – the entire construct dizzyingly reflected by a glossy inky black floor that Li says is meant to reflect a river.
‘Tributaries’ break off into adjacent rooms – these are demarcated by white concrete arches that evoke the sensation of underwater bubbles. In the children’s Picture Book Pavilion, itself styled like an animated version of Yangzhou, arches in the low-slung bookshelves pull out to reveal bijoux display tables, proving once again that good things often come in small packages.
ADDRESS
No 492, Wenchang Middle Road
Guangling District
Yangzhou
-
Japan in Milan! See the highlights of Japanese design at Milan Design Week 2025At Milan Design Week 2025 Japanese craftsmanship was a front runner with an array of projects in the spotlight. Here are some of our highlights
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
‘Humour is foundational’: artist Ella Kruglyanskaya on painting as a ‘highly questionable’ pursuitElla Kruglyanskaya’s exhibition, ‘Shadows’ at Thomas Dane Gallery, is the first in a series of three this year, with openings in Basel and New York to follow
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the world
Celebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
