The Bookstore-Café: Emergence of a New Lifestyle as a “Third Place” in Hangzhou, China

Abstract

This article introduces the Chinese bookstore-café, which indicates a change of lifestyle occurring in the contemporary big cities of China. Based on the concept of “third place,” which was first introduced by sociologist Ray Oldenburg to indicate places that are neither home nor a workplace, we argue that the bookstore-café represents the emergence of a new lifestyle. Oldenburg’s “third place” concept is deployed as a framework to explore the role of the bookstore-café in Hangzhou, China, based on a study conducted at three popular bookstore-cafés in central Hangzhou, to clarify its involvement in urban life. As part of the study, we used the observational method to help determine consumers’ visual behavior and an on-site survey questionnaire to collect data for measuring the qualities of the bookstore-café. The research findings contribute profound insights into the bookstore-café in Chinese urban life and deepen our understanding of Oldenburg’s “third place” concept.

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