A landmark Chinese bookstore shuttered in Shanghai six years ago has found another life in Washington, D.C.

By Lisa Peryman for Probe International

The reopening of Shanghai’s iconic Jifeng Bookstore as JF Books in Washington, D.C. this month, represents another hard-won triumph for China’s diaspora community in its pursuit of freedom of expression and ideas.

Originally founded in 1997, Jifeng once thrived as an intellectual and cultural nerve center for Shanghai’s liberal intelligentsia, esteemed for its selection of humanities and social science offerings and frequent seminars, albeit monitored by authorities for controversy. Expanding to eight locations at its peak, Jifeng (meaning “monsoon”) invested the force of that symbolism in its motto: “There is a crack in everything, and that is how the monsoon blows in.” [See: Shanghai’s Shut-Down Liberal Bookstore Poised for New Lease on Life in Washington].

The energy of that motif, however, ultimately petered out in the face of government opposition to the ideological threat independent bookstores represent to the Communist regime. When the franchise failed to secure lease extensions against a backdrop of tightened government control on free expression and its crackdown on critical voices and dissent, the last of Jifeng’s Shanghai outlets was forced to close at the end of January in 2018.

Prior to its final bow, Yan Bofei, Jifeng’s founder and a former Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences philosophy researcher, described the bookstore’s original mission as “very simple”.

“We wanted to disseminate some progressive knowledge,” he said. “But those simple thoughts were misunderstood and probably regarded [by the authorities] as a base for opponents.”

The more daring of Jifeng’s roster of seminars in its later years—topics ranging from reform of the country’s supervision system to the South China Sea—were cancelled after authorities objected. At the time, Yu Miao, the manager and majority owner of Jifeng’s last bookstore to close, told South China Morning Post that Chinese authorities felt the bookstore had embraced “enlightenment”.

“Maybe they have concerns about such a place, where people can discuss and rethink many social issues, and whether this will break through what they promote and the constraints on thought they impose on you,” he said.

Despite Jifeng’s closure, controversy and constraint would follow Yu after he and his wife and children relocated to Florida in 2018.

Two months into Shanghai’s Covid lockdown in the spring of 2022, the bookstore’s rarely active WeChat account circulated an article with the message, “Let’s shout our dissatisfaction with a clear voice,” along with recommended reading on the theme of “disobedience”. Yu’s wife, Xie Fang, had returned to China in January of that year to care for her ailing mother, but was denied permission to exit the country when she tried to leave on Aug. 1. Chinese authorities told Xie her husband “had published or uploaded articles under a pseudonym in the United States” and that her exit ban would not be lifted unless Yu returned to answer questions about his online activity. [See: China’s Displeasure With a Bookseller Follows Him to Florida].

When the couple’s lack of progress to secure Xie’s departure failed, they took the bold and courageous step of making their plight public through social media. The high-risk move only exacerbated tensions but their fight did gain notice from Western media and human-rights organizations. After eight months, Xie was finally permitted to rejoin her husband and children in the U.S. without the caveat of Yu’s return to China for questioning. The details of what transpired remain unknown as the negotiation for Xie’s permission to exit necessitates public non-disclosure. Nevertheless, a public role was about to unfold: the legacy of Jifeng on U.S. soil.

The difficulty of locating Chinese-language books in the United States formed part of the decision that drove Yu to revive the spirit of Jifeng in Washington, D.C. as JF Books.

Sophie Richardson, the former China director at Human Rights Watch, and one of many who celebrated the bookstore’s opening on Sunday, Sept. 1, told Voice of America [VOA]:

“It’s amazing to see this clear demand for this kind of material in an environment where people can get it free of fear of persecution.

[Chinese President] Xi Jinping and his government have clearly targeted a great deal of hostility at scholars,” she continues. “Their books are regarded as potential threats, and so the party does what the party knows how to do, which is to send people into exile, to send them to jail, to shut down bookstores.”

The fragmentation and collapse of civil society in China, particularly after the ‘709 crackdown’ on the country’s human rights defenders in 2015, is a cause reborn in the global context.

One such place of landing for China’s émigrés is Japan. Li Jinxing (also Wu Lei), a former criminal defense lawyer in China, now based in Tokyo for safety reasons, illuminates the power of movement. Speaking to The New York Times earlier this year, he said:

“With so many Chinese relocating to Japan, there’s a need for a place where people can vent, share their grievances, then think about what to do next. People like us have a mission to drive the transformation of China.”

The pulse of this transformation for émigrés, notes the Times, is nourished by the opening of Chinese bookstores, the hosting of seminars, and civic engagement through group organization—the menace of the people, in other words, and the very elements the Chinese Communist Party fears the most.

Back in Washington, D.C., JF Books is resuming Jifeng’s tradition of public discussion and is already lining up speakers for September. Howard Shen, a graduate student from Taiwan at Georgetown University, captured JF’s opening day sense of optimism:

“It’s such a big thing in the Chinese speaking community in D.C. We are all very excited to have this bookstore. It’s such a meaningful place for all Chinese in the world who love freedom.”

Can’t visit in person? Visit the JF Books website here: https://www.jfbooks.org/

The title of this article is the inspiration of JF Books and begins their About Us backstory here: https://www.jfbooks.org/about