Where have all the Chinese bookstores in Auckland gone?

A rusty metal sign hanging on a wall besides a grocery store halfway down Dominion Rd is all that's left of an iconic business that lay at the heart of New Zealand's Chinese community for more than a decade.

Hua Fang, owner of the now-defunct store, expresses some surprise the sign is still there.

Fang single-handedly ran New Zealand Chinese Bookshop from a small store at 672 Dominion Road from 2008 to 2019 until he decided to shut up shop and shift operations online.

For 11 years, the store sold Chinese-language books and bilingual study materials on a wide range of subjects to the Chinese community in Auckland and further afield.

Fang still feels a pang of regret thinking back to the day the store closed.

"The store opened in an instant but closed gradually," he said, unable to pinpoint the exact day it shut its doors for the final time. "One day, the key was simply handed over to someone else. ... Maybe I'm deliberately choosing to forget?"

Fang says he had little choice five years ago but to move operations online.

"The fate of physical bookstores has been ruthlessly shaped by the pressures of our time," he said.

Fang arrived in Auckland in 2003 and landed a job as a radio host.

In 2006, he started importing Reader magazines from China, distributing them in Chinese supermarkets such as Tai Ping, Dahua and Tofu Man.

"I'm from Lanzhou [in Gansu province], where Reader magazine was founded," Fang recalls. "Back then, it was the most popular magazine in China. I asked supermarkets to distribute the magazine, but people were sceptical. They told me Chinese-language newspapers and magazines were usually free in New Zealand. I told the store owners, 'Just put the magazines on the shelves. If they aren't gone in a week, I'll stop.'"

To his surprise, the supermarkets all came back to him saying they had sold all copies of the magazines within a week.

Encouraged by the demand, he began importing other popular Chinese magazines and expanded distribution to 50 sales locations in Auckland.

The success of the import venture prompted him to open a dedicated Chinese bookstore.

At the time, Chinese-language books were not widely available overseas.

Indeed, when Fang opened New Zealand Chinese Bookshop, only two bookstores in New Zealand sold Chinese titles.

Fang wanted his bookstore to better serve the reading needs of the Chinese community, offering a selection of literature, health guides, language-learning materials and locally published educational supplements.

Fang recalls a customer on the store's opening day who declined to receive a discount, electing instead to pay full price.

"The man said, 'I don't need any discount. I just hope your bookstore can keep running for a long time so our children can find Chinese books and deepen their interest in learning Chinese,'" Fang says.

Sales at the bookstore were strong for a few years, but revenue eventually started to decline.

"After WeChat become popular around 2014 or 2015, fewer people were buying books," Fang says. "With the convenience of the internet, people felt there was less of a need to buy physical books. Reading habits moved online."

Once that happened, there was no holding back dramatic shifts in consumer behaviour.

"Times have changed," he says. "We've had to adapt."

Tech giant Tencent launched public accounts for its WeChat app in August 2012, allowing individuals and organizations to create mass postings of text, pictures, recordings and, later, video.

Three years later, the company launched WeChat Reading, an app that allows users to read books and share their reading experiences.

By mid-2024, about 1.37 billion active users had opened accounts on the social media app, with WeChat Reading amassing more than 210 million registered users worldwide.

Jingyao Tang, founder of Priceless Readership Library, said WeChat's reading platform was mutually beneficial for publishers, authors and readers alike.

"WeChat Reading purchases a lot of copyrights, often releasing e-versions of print books six months to a year after their initial publication," Tang said. "It's an efficient platform for authors, translators, editors and marketing teams to collaborate across the industry."

He believed that digital reading platforms were the future.

"As we get older, the ability to resize text is significant, making reading easier without the need for glasses or specialized equipment," Tang said. "A simple screen can handle it all."

Tang said it was disappointing that Chinese bookstores struggled to survive overseas.

"We see Chinese restaurants, cultural performances and other familiar touchpoints - all of which are rooted in writing and education," he said. "Reading is the cornerstone of education and, even abroad, there's room to strengthen that foundation."

Tang began building a library of Chinese books in 2021, amassing more than 3000 books with the help of friends and transforming an underground garage into the Priceless Readership Library.

He said the name reflected the library's value and the joy of sharing books, not hoarding them.

"I believe books should be shared," he said. "Unlike other items, if books aren't read, they become less valuable than a brick.

"That's the beauty of paper books - they foster connections, spark conversations and build friendships."

Recalling his own journey to New Zealand with just two books in early 2017, Tang found it challenging to read books outside of his studies or work - a seemingly common experience among overseas Chinese.

"People sometimes think overseas Chinese don't read much, but it's more about adapting to a new environment and managing complex life goals," he said. "Reading can feel like just one more task during this time."

Tang wanted his library to help Chinese immigrants navigate their own journeys as they adjust to life in New Zealand.

"From the moment you arrive, there are certain language barriers, so you start with Chinese or bilingual books," he said.

"Later, you might need educational resources and, eventually, books to improve work skills. Books can support people at every stage of their relocation."

Tang had found it difficult to run a privately funded library.

Beyond the cost of acquiring books, the library faced space constraints and logistical challenges, which resulted in nearly 800 missing books, he said.

Auckland currently has 56 council libraries that stock around 72,110 physical Chinese-language books, a figure that makes up 4.8 percent of the city's total library holdings.

Meanwhile, Chinese-language books comprise more than 60 percent of Auckland's entire ethnic-language collection.

Hau-Ren Hung, a senior librarian for Auckland Mobile Libraries, which delivers a range of mobile library services and programmes across the region, said public libraries differed from school or research libraries in that they focused on meeting the diverse needs and interests of the public.

"We collect relevant data - like demographic ratios, borrowing trends, and reader and staff feedback - to guide the selection of Chinese and community language books," Hung said. "This information helps set the criteria for new purchases."

For titles not currently available, he recommended members of the public to use the "Ask Us To Buy It" feature on the library website to submit a request with the book's details.

What's more, Auckland Libraries offered an interlibrary loan service that allowed people to borrow books from other cities in New Zealand and even from select libraries overseas.

However, Hung noted that language and cultural barriers limited awareness of the library's extensive resources among some immigrant communities.

"In fact, our services go beyond just lending books," Hung said. "We also offer resources for language-learning, job-hunting, resume-writing and more. Many libraries now host bilingual or Chinese storytelling sessions for parents and children.

"We need to further promote these resources to help immigrant communities adapt to and engage with the cultural life here. We hope they'll see Auckland Libraries as an essential platform for lifelong learning."

The mobile library seeks to serve under-resourced communities.

Hung has been delivering Chinese-language books to Chinese rest homes since late 2023, ensuring older community members with limited mobility can access library resources directly.

To encourage engagement, Hung selects stories and poems to read with the seniors in a bid to draw an opinion from them.

"For Chinese seniors, personality, age and language barriers can make it hard to express their thoughts and emotions," he said.

"Reading sessions encourage them to open up, stimulate mental activity, and help alleviate memory loss and symptoms of dementia."

Ninety-year-old Wenai Wang, a resident of Deverton House Rest Home, recalled her visits to Northcote Library before moving to the facility, where outings were subsequently limited for safety reasons.

The mobile library's arrival had been a welcome surprise, Wang said.

"With more elderly people becoming well-educated, we miss opportunities like the Seniors University of China," she said, referring to an arts-focused tertiary institution in China catering to seniors aged 50 to 80. "Having a mobile library visit us and bring knowledge makes us feel alive."

Looking to the future, Hung hoped people of all ages would make greater use of the library's free resources.

He also viewed the library's Chinese collection as a valuable cultural asset for New Zealand.

"With the world increasingly connected as a 'global village', the use of Chinese is on the rise," Hung said. "It's not only Chinese communities but also New Zealand locals who are beginning to learn the language. Our Chinese collection supports skill development and strengthens New Zealand's global ties."