Central Bookstore

In the 1920s, Taiwanese intellectuals, enlightened by new education during the Japanese colonial period, were driven by their love for national self-determination, social mission, and their homeland. They resolved to lead the Taiwanese people out of intellectual confinement through literature and art, thus embarking on Central Bookstore's century-long mission of cultural enlightenment. In 1926, Chuang Chui-sheng, a member of the Taiwan Cultural Association, proposed establishing the "Central Club," with shareholders including Lin Hsien-tang, Lin Yu-chun, Chang Shen-chieh, and Lai He. Initially intended to include a cafeteria, hotel, lecture hall, and bookstore, on January 3, 1927, it was decided to establish only the Central Bookstore. It served as a social venue for the Taiwan Cultural Association, taking on the crucial responsibility of enlightening the public and preserving culture. The original site of the Central Bookstore was Baoding 3-chome, 15-banchi, Taichung City (today's No. 103, Shifu Road, Central District, Taichung City). In 1949, it was relocated to the adjacent building (current site at the intersection of Shifu Road and Taiwan Boulevard), which had previously served as the bookstore's employee dormitory and warehouse during the Japanese colonial period. This three-story eclectic-style building features floral friezes encircling the parapet, an arc-shaped volumetric design, an internal truss system of grid beams, and a radially extending perimeter, fully reflecting the architectural style of its era. It was considered the largest Chinese bookstore at the time and is the only bookstore building that still retains its main structure and operates at its original location to this day. Upon its establishment, Central Bookstore sold "Chinese books and magazines, stationery and art supplies, Western painting materials, sports equipment and apparel, phonographs, and Western musical instruments." It also set up a "Publishing Committee" to issue the magazines "Nanyin" and "Taiwan Wenyi." Artists such as Kuo Hsueh-hu, Chen Cheng-po, and Liao Chi-chun held art exhibitions there, and literary figures, composers, and others frequently organized exchange events. Even Choi Seung-hee, a pioneer of modern Korean dance, was invited to visit, making it a crucial hub for intellectuals to connect with the world, acquire knowledge, and enrich their artistic and cultural understanding. After the war in 1945, Central Bookstore steadfastly defended the spirit of Taiwanese literature, publishing literary works for many Taiwanese writers, such as Wu Yong-fu and Chang Shen-chieh. When the "February 28 Incident" erupted in 1947, Taiwanese gentry like Chuang Chui-sheng and Yeh Jung-chung used the bookstore as a venue for discussions and meetings. In March of the same year, writer Yang Kui and his friends established the "Public Opinion Survey Office" at Central Bookstore, printing and distributing leaflets on the second floor to promote citizen assemblies, which eventually escalated into the Taichung "27 Brigade" incident. This was the largest and longest-lasting armed resistance against tyranny in Taiwan at the time. In 1956, the US Information Agency in Taiwan established a library on the second floor of Central Bookstore, introducing translated and original foreign books, making it the only place in central Taiwan where a large number of foreign books could be accessed and read at that time. In 2015, observing the building's deterioration, literary figures such as Su Jui-pi, founder of the Central Taiwan Revitalization Base, and writer Liu Ke-hsiang, urgently called for its rescue. In 2016, Ms. Chang Hsing-ju, founder of the Hsin-Yi Foundation, purchased the property and became its representative, establishing the Shang Shan Foundation for Humanities. Operations resumed in 2020, making it currently the only century-old bookstore in Taiwan to reopen at its original location.