A customer looks at books at JF Books on September 17, 2024.
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On a Friday afternoon in Washington, DC, Yu Miao was busy preparing the first floor of his bookstore for a public lecture — an event that would be illegal in Shanghai, where his bookstore once operated.
The lecture, titled “Rights and Privacy in the Digital Age,” featured Chinese-American professor Minxin Pei and drew a large audience from the local Chinese community — along with many others on the waiting list.
Restrictions on freedom of speech in China forced Yu to reopen his bookstore in the United States under a new name, JF Books. He was forced to close the Shanghai branch of Jifeng Bookstore in 2018 after Chinese authorities refused to renew the store’s lease and prevented him from finding a new location, even outside the city.
JF Books offers Chinese-language books from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, along with English-language titles, with a focus on China and Asian topics. In addition to hosting events on politics and human rights, the owners envision it as a space for public readings and discussions, encouraging the DC community to meet new people, explore cultural and social issues, and learn about China.
“If a reader walks into a bookstore and feels moved by something, that joy is real,” Yu said. “When we attend lectures in both Chinese and English, we meet old friends and new friends. I want to organize literary gatherings where people can connect, talk, and find support—a place to build spiritual connections.”
It’s hard to find a community space in DC unless it’s a church or tied to a political group. Yu hopes his new store will inspire readers to explore English-language books about Chinese traditions, politics, and daily life, giving them a better understanding of the lives of ordinary people.
“The Chinese people are not their government — they are kind and want a better life, but they have no voice,” he said.
Yu Miao is part of a growing wave of peaceful Chinese migrants leaving the country amid Xi Jinping’s crackdown on free speech and economic challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Why are moderates in China, like this bookstore owner, leaving?
Yu is part of a growing wave of peaceful Chinese migrants leaving the country amid Xi Jinping’s crackdown on free speech and economic challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, China had a relatively open public space where debate coexisted with state law. After he took power, that space quickly disappeared—and public participation became a risk. A major supplier to JF Books is Zhang Shizhi, a Chinese publisher now based in Japan.
JF Books offers Chinese language books from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, along with some English books.
Maansi Srivastava for NPR
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“A lot of people have left China in the last five years. It was a convergence of events: the slowing economy, the fact that Xi Jinping would not step down, and therefore no change in vision. All of this came to a head after the bungled final phase of the Covid outbreak, when the government implemented a strict lockdown to control the virus rather than import mRNA vaccines, which are already being used in many other countries.” Ian Johnson, author of Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and Their Fight for the Future.
“They began to see it as not only harsh but also relatively incompetent,” he added.
“I knew that making money from selling books would be difficult, so my goal was to create a public space where we could sustain the bookstore and create a place for people to come together to learn and be curious,” Yu said.
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The Story of Jifeng Bookstore
Established in 1997 and long considered a staple at several Shanghai subway stations, Jifeng Bookstore has become a cultural hub for the city’s liberal intellectuals, building a solid reputation among both domestic and international scholars. At its peak, the chain had eight locations across the city.
Yu, now in his 50s, explained that changing reading habits and rising rents forced him to switch to the bookstore business.
“I knew that making money from selling books would be difficult, so my goal was to create a public space where we could sustain the bookstore and create a place for people to come together to learn and be curious,” he said.
Like most censorship in authoritarian regimes, harassment in China is often gradual and undocumented. For businesses, especially in recent years, this has often been manifest as accusations that their lease had expired. And on social media platforms, censorship extend to self-censorshipbecause users limit their freedom of speech for fear of retaliation.
In Yu’s experience, he has had to cancel many events in public places because authorities complained that a certain topic was “not good” or the speaker was “problematic.” When Jifeng planned to hold a lecture series titled “Lessons on Life and Death for Young People”—which aimed to explore perspectives on life and death through philosophy, religion, and literature—the authorities intervened, arguing that the lecture topic could mislead young people.
While higher rents may have exacerbated the difficulty of finding a new location, Yu believes the main reason for the bookstore’s closure was pressure from local authorities, who warned the landlord not to rent to him. He recalls being banned from engaging in any type of business activity from 2018 to 2019. After writing to Shanghai officials, the authorities met with him and explained that the bookstore’s intellectual events encouraged open discussion, which was seen as a threat to the regime.
“They don’t have a problem with me personally, but with the concept of the bookstore,” Yu said.
In 2018, he moved to Florida with his wife and family, then to DC to pursue his studies in English and literature. However, surveillance by Chinese authorities continued to follow him. In August 2022, after a trip to visit his sick mother, his wife was banned from leaving China for more than eight months.
At the new DC location, the owner displays handwritten cards from people on one of Jifeng’s final days of operation in Shanghai.
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A new chapter
Big cities often have a bookstore that reflects their identity, and for Shanghai, that was Jifeng Bookstore – now a part of the collective memory of those who lived there. At the new DC location, the owner displays handwritten cards from people during one of Jifeng’s final days in Shanghai.
For Wenxuan Fang, a social media analyst from Virginia, stepping into the bookstore felt like a step back in time — a reminder of his childhood visits to the Shanghai bookstore at the subway station, and a rare opportunity to find Chinese books in the United States. He picked up a book about Persian merchants in southern China and a collection of poems by Ha Jin.
“As a Taiwanese, I find it difficult to access simplified Chinese books, especially on topics like Middle Eastern studies, which are often published in mainland China. While China continues to publish, the quality has declined due to censorship,” he said.
Lei Zhou, a Chinese American born and raised in China, spent $300 on books at the store’s grand opening. For him and his community, “it’s the best of both worlds,” as JF Books sells banned Chinese books while also providing access to the latest intellectual works from China, which are rarely marketed outside of China.
Moving away from home and starting a new bookstore from scratch had its challenges. “The hardest part,” Yu said, “was setting up the business. I wasn’t familiar with the laws here, and most of the work required lawyers and financial experts. Plus, I had to navigate everything in English.”
Yu hopes his new store will inspire readers to explore English-language books that introduce Chinese traditions, politics and daily life, giving them a better understanding of the lives of ordinary people.
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There is one person who inspires Yu as he recalls his years of silence and struggle to open a new bookstore in another country: Yan Bofei, the bookstore’s founder, now in his 70s, who still believes that bookstores play an important role for the public.
“Every time we talk, I learn something new,” Yu said. “Despite everything he has been through, Yan still cares deeply about the future of the Chinese people.”
The audio version of this piece was produced by Mansee Khurana and edited by Ashley Westerman. The digital version was edited by Obed Manuel.
