杭州觀察 (二)

 

二零零三年九月四日

 

馮儁熙

一間書店與一顆心

 

那是杭州市中心附近的一條馬路，整條馬路都在整修當中，不知是要修理水管，還是在重修路面。路旁有間小書店，門面不怎麼特別的，看起來只不過是一間普通的文化書店罷。只不過一推門進去，你就會覺得它和其他國內的書店有些不同。

 

驟眼看來，小說、新詩、散文、文化評論、歷史書，以至字典，書店賣的都是一般的文化書籍。但再細心地留意一下，怎麼會有這麼多宗哲書，神學書，賣的禮品中又有十字架和寫有經文的圖畫，連播放的音樂也是我耳熟能詳的基督教音樂呢？

 

亞伯拉罕給那地方起名叫耶和華以勒（註：意思就是「耶和華必預備」），直到今日人還說：「在耶和華的山上必有預備。」（創２２：１４，和合本）

 

這是杭州市內唯一的基督教書店─杭州以勒書房。

 

我很高興見到國內出版了一定数目與基督信仰有關的書籍。主要都是西方學術書籍的中譯本，但也有些港台書籍的簡體字版，和由大陸學者執筆的書。但畢竟在大陸，文化界的開放，遠較經濟開放慢。和宗教有關的書，還是要經過審查。據書店的老闆說，浙江省現有１８０萬基督徒，是香港的４倍多（香港約有４０多萬的基督徒和天主教徒），但其基督教出版業卻連香港的百分之一也沒有。

 

書店的閣樓擺放了一些從香港進口的基督教書籍，想不到在這兒也可以買得到。當然，因為是進口書，售價就自然比在香港貴得多。另有一部份是供人客借閱的。書店的售貨員服務態度很好，有顧客來看書時，他們會端上椅子和一杯水，叫你慢慢的看，好像很有信心顧客看完書的序之後，會把書買下來回家慢慢的看。閣樓還擺放了兩張桌子和幾張椅子，不少熟客會到那兒坐下來，和書店老闆談書論道，又或閒話家常。

 

書店老闆是個三四十歲的文化知識人，看來很有學養似的，很喜歡向人客介紹好書。幾年前放下了穩定的收入，和太太開了這間書店，可謂一大冒險。他對我說，他本來也不太願意這樣做，但上帝讓他們看見這裡的需要，他和太太經過一段長期的祈禱，清楚感到這是上帝給他們的呼召，他們才毅然踏上這段路。

 

在這個往錢看的年代，願意放下高薪厚職去搞文化的人實在不多。有人願意不畏艱難在大陸搞基督教文化事業，這樣的一顆心，余敬佩之。

 

修訂於二零零三年九月二十六日

 

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Observations in Hangzhou (2)

 

4th September, 2003.

 

Isaac Chun Hai Fung

 

A Bookshop and a Passion

 

That is a road near the city centre of Hangzhou. The entire road is under maintenance. Perhaps they are going to repair the water pipes underneath or perhaps they are repairing the road surface. There is a small bookshop on the road. Its front is nothing special, just like a normal culture bookshop. However, once you walk in, you can feel that compared to other mainland Chinese bookshops, there is something different with it.

 

With a quick glance, novels, poems, prose, culture critiques, history books, or even dictionaries, what are sold here are normal culture books. But if you pay more attention, how come there are so many books on philosophy, religion and theology? Among the gifts on display, there are also crosses and pictures with biblical verses. How come even the music being broadcasted is some Christian music which is so familiar to me?

 

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide (Yahweh Jireh). And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:14, NIV)

 

This is the only Christian bookstore in Hangzhou – Hangzhou Jireh Bookshop.

 

I am very happy that certain amount of books related to the Christian faith has been published in mainland China. Most of them are Chinese translations of Western academic books, but there are also some books originally published in Hong Kong and Taiwan and now published here in simplified Chinese characters for the mainland Chinese. There are even some written by mainland Chinese scholars. Nonetheless, the open-up of the cultural scenes in mainland China is slower than that in economics. Books related to religions are still required to pass through censorship. According to the owner of the bookshop, there are now 1.8 million Christians in Zhejiang province, which is more than 4 times of that in Hong Kong. (There are about 400 thousands Protestants and Catholics in Hong Kong.) However, Christian publishing here is even less than 1% of that of Hong Kong.

 

There are some Christian books imported from Hong Kong on the upper floor of the bookshop. I am surprised that these books can now be bought here. Of course, as these are all imported goods, the prices are higher than that in Hong Kong. There is also a small library there for customers to borrow home and read. The customer service is really good there. When some customers are standing there and read, the cashiers will come and bring you a chair and a glass of water, so that you can sit down and read comfortably. It seems to me that they are pretty sure that after reading perhaps the prefaces of the books, their customers will certainly buy them home and read them all. On the upper floor, there are also two tables and some chairs. Many familiar faces will come and sit down there, chatting with the bookshop owner, on books, on faith, or on their daily life.

 

The bookshop owner is an intellectual in his 30s or 40s. It seems to me that he is well-educated and very knowledgeable. He likes to introduce his customers some good books to read. Several years ago, he quitted his job, which could provide him with a stable income. Together with his wife, he opened this bookshop. It is really an adventure. He told me that originally he did not really like this idea. However, God let them see the needs there. After praying together with his wife for quite a long time, he felt clearly that this was their divine calling and thus they determined to embark on this journey.

 

In this materialistic age, there are not many people who are willing to put aside their high-paid jobs and engage themselves with culture development. To such a person whose passion is to engage with Christian culture development in mainland China, I paid my great respect.

 

Revised on 26th September, 2003.

 

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