Nanhai Book Center

After Wang Zhen's family bought private apartment and moved out of the dormitory, it's been that there was no children of my age in the building. In that two years I had these few ways of spending time: Hang out with newly moved in children, who were three years younger than me; visiting the library; pretending practicing violin. Upon finishing primary school, our family moved out. According to my mother, the dormitory was meant to be transitional for the employees, for them to stay temporarily before saving up down payment to buy a real house. It was due to vicinity to the library and my primary school they overstayed in the dormitory.

Afterwards we moved to commodity apartment, one of those that called "so and so garden estate". Walking from here on foot I can read books in Nanhai Book Centre, but reading here is different than reading in public libraries. The books are less interesting than in the reading room's, filled with market stuff. Best sellers are usually series similar to Goosebumps. The children's reading room had these series as well, but in less prominent placements. And lastly the reading room never shelf prep books. The ground floor sold accessories such as music instrument, stationaries, and records. There was also a prop up point for trying out physiotherapy instrument for the short sighted, I tried it once and my eyes had infection.

Nanhai Book Center occupied four storeys of the building, located at a main boulevard intersection. In memory I thought the four storeys was all there is; the same enlargement in impression applied to the Children's Reading Room. In fact there are more than four storeys above the book center, possibly office space.

Today the book center shrinked to a section of one floor in another mall. The original location is modified for an insurance company.