<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>No happily ever after for bookshop
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>83-year-old Shanghai Book Co packs up after five years of dispute with China shareholders </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Debbie Yong
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Mr Chen Mong Tse, son of the founders of the Shanghai Book Company, said he is open to negotiations if outsiders are interested in carrying on the business. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->It is the final chapter for a longtime bookshop dealing in Chinese literature.
Last month, the 83-year-old Shanghai Book Company closed its bookstore in Bras Basah Complex, a victim of five years of tussling between the store's Singaporean owners and China shareholders.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Chinese bookstores dying out?
'It might send the signal to people that reading Chinese books is not important since stores like ours are shutting down one after another. It makes me wonder if I will be the next victim.'
MR SUNG JEE TONG, general manager of family-run Maha Yu Yi Chinese bookstore in Bras Basah
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A liquidator's sale of more than 10,000 items of its remaining books and stationery was held last Friday following a court order to wind up the debt- and dispute-ridden bookstore business.
Said Mr Chen Mong Tse, 72, son of the founders of Shanghai Book Company, who ran the bookshop with his wife and a sister: 'We're getting old, and we want to find a solution to this. We can't let it drag on.'
The physics graduate of Nanyang University took over the company in 1971 when his father died.
In 2001, faced with a succession vacuum - none of his nieces and nephews or his three children showed any interest in taking over - the company entered into a joint venture with the China National Publication Import and Export Corporation (CNPIEC), a major book exporter in that country, to run the bookshop.
It was renamed the Shanghai Book (CNPIEC) Company, with the CNPIEC owning a 35 per cent stake.
The latter appointed Beijing native Ma Jilin, 54, as the company's general manager in charge of operations, while Mr Chen and his partners were to play an advisory role.
However, when CNPIEC did not pay US$300,000 (S$435,000) after three years to buy a further 30 per cent stake in the joint venture company - as stated in the agreement - relations between both sides soured rapidly.
By the middle of last year, the bookstore business had chalked up $2 million of debt with suppliers, and owed about $180,000 in rent, said Mr Chen.
That was when he decided to initiate a local court proceeding to wind up the joint venture company and pay off its debts.
When contacted, Mr Ma would say only that it was a long story, and that the rift got deeper and more irreconcilable as it went along.
The problem, he noted, boiled down to a clash of culture, working styles and personalities.
Mr Chen said shareholders were still debating if they should strike the Shanghai Book Company off the business registry. He added that he is open to negotiations if outsiders are interested in carrying on the business.
'We are not keen on the money. We are more concerned about keeping the company's spirit of goodwill alive,' he said.
Last September, Mr Chen sold off the four ground-floor units that the bookstore occupied in Bras Basah Complex and ran the operations out of its approximately 800 sq ft rented office on the fourth floor.
The Shanghai Book Company then donated $1 million from the proceeds to establish a scholarship for Chinese studies at Nanyang Technological University.
With another large player in the Chinese book scene, Commercial Press, closing down its Cathay store on June 22 due to the recession, observers are worried for the prospects of the industry.
Commercial Press' North Bridge Road store remains open.
Ms Tan Lay Hui, 57, owner of Music Book Room, a book and stationery shop at Bras Basah Complex, said more people now prefer going online rather than reading books for information.
Mr Sung Jee Tong, 44, general manager of family-run Maha Yu Yi Chinese bookstore in Bras Basah, added that he is concerned about the side effects of the closure of the Shanghai bookshop.
'It might send the signal to people that reading Chinese books is not important since stores like ours are shutting down one after another. It makes me wonder if I will be the next victim,' he said.
But Ms Margaret Ma, 43, who runs Union Bookstore, one of the larger players which imports books from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, is optimistic that even with the popularity of the Internet, 'there will still be those who like the feel of a book in hand'.
Also, more younger, English-educated parents are realising the importance of being bilingual and buying Chinese books, DVDs and CDs for their children, she noted. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>83-year-old Shanghai Book Co packs up after five years of dispute with China shareholders </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Debbie Yong
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Chen Mong Tse, son of the founders of the Shanghai Book Company, said he is open to negotiations if outsiders are interested in carrying on the business. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->It is the final chapter for a longtime bookshop dealing in Chinese literature.
Last month, the 83-year-old Shanghai Book Company closed its bookstore in Bras Basah Complex, a victim of five years of tussling between the store's Singaporean owners and China shareholders.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Chinese bookstores dying out?
'It might send the signal to people that reading Chinese books is not important since stores like ours are shutting down one after another. It makes me wonder if I will be the next victim.'
MR SUNG JEE TONG, general manager of family-run Maha Yu Yi Chinese bookstore in Bras Basah
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A liquidator's sale of more than 10,000 items of its remaining books and stationery was held last Friday following a court order to wind up the debt- and dispute-ridden bookstore business.
Said Mr Chen Mong Tse, 72, son of the founders of Shanghai Book Company, who ran the bookshop with his wife and a sister: 'We're getting old, and we want to find a solution to this. We can't let it drag on.'
The physics graduate of Nanyang University took over the company in 1971 when his father died.
In 2001, faced with a succession vacuum - none of his nieces and nephews or his three children showed any interest in taking over - the company entered into a joint venture with the China National Publication Import and Export Corporation (CNPIEC), a major book exporter in that country, to run the bookshop.
It was renamed the Shanghai Book (CNPIEC) Company, with the CNPIEC owning a 35 per cent stake.
The latter appointed Beijing native Ma Jilin, 54, as the company's general manager in charge of operations, while Mr Chen and his partners were to play an advisory role.
However, when CNPIEC did not pay US$300,000 (S$435,000) after three years to buy a further 30 per cent stake in the joint venture company - as stated in the agreement - relations between both sides soured rapidly.
By the middle of last year, the bookstore business had chalked up $2 million of debt with suppliers, and owed about $180,000 in rent, said Mr Chen.
That was when he decided to initiate a local court proceeding to wind up the joint venture company and pay off its debts.
When contacted, Mr Ma would say only that it was a long story, and that the rift got deeper and more irreconcilable as it went along.
The problem, he noted, boiled down to a clash of culture, working styles and personalities.
Mr Chen said shareholders were still debating if they should strike the Shanghai Book Company off the business registry. He added that he is open to negotiations if outsiders are interested in carrying on the business.
'We are not keen on the money. We are more concerned about keeping the company's spirit of goodwill alive,' he said.
Last September, Mr Chen sold off the four ground-floor units that the bookstore occupied in Bras Basah Complex and ran the operations out of its approximately 800 sq ft rented office on the fourth floor.
The Shanghai Book Company then donated $1 million from the proceeds to establish a scholarship for Chinese studies at Nanyang Technological University.
With another large player in the Chinese book scene, Commercial Press, closing down its Cathay store on June 22 due to the recession, observers are worried for the prospects of the industry.
Commercial Press' North Bridge Road store remains open.
Ms Tan Lay Hui, 57, owner of Music Book Room, a book and stationery shop at Bras Basah Complex, said more people now prefer going online rather than reading books for information.
Mr Sung Jee Tong, 44, general manager of family-run Maha Yu Yi Chinese bookstore in Bras Basah, added that he is concerned about the side effects of the closure of the Shanghai bookshop.
'It might send the signal to people that reading Chinese books is not important since stores like ours are shutting down one after another. It makes me wonder if I will be the next victim,' he said.
But Ms Margaret Ma, 43, who runs Union Bookstore, one of the larger players which imports books from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, is optimistic that even with the popularity of the Internet, 'there will still be those who like the feel of a book in hand'.
Also, more younger, English-educated parents are realising the importance of being bilingual and buying Chinese books, DVDs and CDs for their children, she noted. [email protected]
