Owner of flooded bookstore in Henan given hope

A mom-and-pop bookstore in Central China that nearly nobody knew of outside its small city channeled help from warmhearted people across the nation to help it wade through difficulties brought by a recent devastating rainstorm.

Recalling the incident, Wu Xiaojun, the bookstore's owner, said he didn't sleep on the night of July 21 when torrential rain hit Xinxiang, Henan province.

Wu said he was draining water from his 90-square-meter shop in the city from 8 pm until the next morning.

That night, more than 1,000 books got soaked and Wu had to give them away, he said, estimating his losses at about 20,000 yuan ($3,100).

Learning about his experience online, people from across the country, either readers or bookstore owners, helped him renovate his bookstore.

After the losses caused by the rain, his store faced a financial crisis and would have been forced to close if he had missed the rent payment due at the end of last month.

But by July 25, people had bought all of Wu's 800"blind boxes"－containing random books at 49 yuan per box－after reading about his story online.

His boxes sold out within four hours.

"I posted the information about selling the boxes in a WeChat group of bookstore owners, not to make a fortune but rebuild my shop," the 38-year-old said.

"It is pretty hard for bookstores to survive. I didn't have enough money to rent a better place for my books so I chose a semi-basement on a commercial street."

Wu named his bookstore Jieti, which in English means ladder, because people need to go down a few stairs before entering his shop.

The low-lying bookstore suffered more from the rain than ground-level shops.

At 8 pm on July 21, the rain suddenly became heavy and rain water quickly accumulated in the bookstore, Wu said.

"The water poured into the house so fast and I looked at the scene helplessly. Later, the power was off amid lightning and thunder and the water pump I borrowed stopped working," he said.

By midnight, rain water had filled his two rooms and he carried water out of the rooms with a bucket.

"Despite slipping on the stairs, I didn't give up because I was saving the only thing that I made a living with," he said.

"I yearned for dawn more than ever because the weather forecast said that the rain would stop at that time. At 3 am, I felt my bookstore was suffocating as well as the souls hidden in the flooded books."

The store hosts book club readings for university students. An anonymous message left in the store's comments book said that the store was a beam of light in the reader's college years.

On the morning of July 22, students nearby volunteered to haul water out the store with buckets, with about 30 students and a water pump working for 15 hours to clean up the store.

Wu also asked for help online to collect money for renovations and rent by selling the blind boxes.

Comments under his request message were left by a bookstore owner from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, who wanted to donate books, readers who offered to buy boxes, and people who wanted to donate money.

"I've collected enough money and I don't want to waste people's attention on my bookstore," Wu said. "If they want to help, just wait until after the disaster because there are so many other people affected by the rain in need of help. After that, we can connect with each other through books rather than from the flood."

He said he had always lived according to his own wishes.

He did not look for a job after graduating from university in 2007, instead opening a store selling outdated magazines in a 20-square-meter temporary boardinghouse in Xinxiang.

He then traded via a mobile bookstore－an electric three-wheeler that carried about a metric ton of books－by the roadside.

"My dream is to sell books from a van while traveling. Though realizing the idea is challenging, I feel a little excited at the mere thought of it," he said.

In 2015, he quit the magazine store and opened Jieti Bookstore. Over the years, he said, he experienced a lot, including the heavy rain in 2016 and now COVID-19.

"Maybe I will close the bookstore and find another job. Even though I love my book career, I need to support my family. I have to consider earning a living with dignity for my wife and daughter," he said.

"But now I must have the confidence to go ahead. My bookstore is still profitable, though meager. I still want to try and think of more ways to make it survive.

"For example, I can buy some secondhand books of good taste and resell them on the internet. I can also build connections with readers on a WeChat account."