A bookstore too controversial for China finds home in D.C.

On a Friday afternoon in Washington, D.C., Yu Miao was busy preparing the first floor of his bookstore for a public lecture — an event that would be illegal in Shanghai, where his shop used to operate.

The lecture, titled “Rights and Privacy in the Digital Age,” featured Chinese American professor Minxin Pei and attracted a large audience from the local Chinese community — with many more on the waiting list.

Free speech restrictions in China compelled Yu to reopen his bookshop in the U.S. under a new name, JF Books. He had been forced to close the Shanghai branch of Jifeng Bookstore in 2018 after Chinese authorities refused to renew the shop's lease and prevented him from finding a new location, even outside the city.

JF Books offers Chinese-language volumes from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, alongside English titles, with a focus on Chinese and Asian topics. Beyond hosting events on politics and human rights, the owner envisions it as a space for public discussions and readings, encouraging the D.C. community to meet new people, explore cultural and social issues and learn about China.

“If a reader steps into a bookstore and is moved by something, that joy is real,” Yu said. “When we attend lectures in both Chinese and English, we meet old and new friends. I want to host literary salons so people can connect, talk, and find support — a place to build spiritual connections.”

Finding a community space in D.C. is difficult unless it's at a church or tied to a political group. Yu hopes his new shop will inspire readers to explore books in English that introduce Chinese traditions, politics, and daily life, helping them better understand the lives of ordinary people.

“The Chinese people are not their government — they are kind and want a better life, but they have no say,” he said.

Why China’s moderates, like this bookstore owner, are leaving

Yu is part of a growing wave of moderate Chinese emigrés who left the country amid Xi Jinping’s crackdown on free speech and the economic challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, China had a relatively open public space where discussions coexisted with state laws. After his rise, this space quickly disappeared—and public engagement became a risk. One key supplier for JF Books is Zhang Shizhi, a Chinese publisher now based in Japan.

“More people have left China over the past five years. It's a confluence of events: the slowing economy, the fact that Xi won't step down, and therefore no change in sight. All of this came to a head after the botched final phase of the Covid outbreak, when the government implemented strict lockdowns to control the virus instead of importing mRNA vaccines, which were being used in many other countries.” said Ian Johnson, author of Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future.

“They began to see it as not only harsh but also relatively incompetent,” he added.

The story of Jifeng bookstore

Founded in 1997 and long regarded as a staple in several Shanghai metro stations, Jifeng Bookstore became a cultural hub for the city's liberal intelligentsia, building a strong reputation among both local and international scholars. At its peak, the chain had eight locations across the city.

Yu, now in his 50s, explained that changing reading habits and rising rents led him to shift the bookstore's focus.

“I knew making money from selling books would be tough, so my goal was to create a public space where we could keep the bookstore alive and create a place for people to learn and be curious together,” he said.

Like most censorship in authoritarian regimes, harassment in China often occurs gradually and without formal documentation. For businesses, especially in recent years, this typically manifests as accusations that their lease has expired. And on social media platforms, censorship extends to self-censorship, as users restrict their own speech out of fear of reprisal.

In Yu’s experience, he had to cancel numerous events in public posts, as authorities would complain that a topic “is not good” or that a speaker “has a problem.” When Jifeng planned to host a lecture series titled “The Life and Death Lessons for Youth” — which aimed to explore perspectives on life and death through philosophy, religion, and literature — the authorities intervened, arguing that the lecture topic could mislead young people.

While higher rent may have worsened the difficulty of finding a new location, Yu believes the main reason for the bookstore's closure was pressure from local authorities, who warned landlords against renting to him. He recalls being banned from all types of business activity from 2018 to 2019. After writing to Shanghai officials, the authorities met with him and explained that the bookstore’s intellectual events encouraged open discussions, which were seen as a threat to the regime.

“They didn’t have an issue with me personally, but with the bookstore as a concept,” Yu said.

In 2018, he moved to Florida with his wife and family, then relocated to D.C. to pursue studies in English language and literature. Still, the scrutiny from Chinese authorities continued to follow him. In August 2022, after a trip to see her ailing mother, his wife was barred from leaving China for more than eight months.

A new chapter

Major cities tend to have a bookstore that reflects their identities, and for Shanghai, that was Jifeng Bookstore – now part of the collective memory for those who lived there. At the new D.C. location, the owner displays handwritten cards from people on one of the final days of Jifeng’s Shanghai operations.

For Wenxuan Fang, a social media analyst from Virginia, stepping into the bookstore felt like déjà vu—a reminder of his childhood visits to the Shanghai store at the metro station, and a rare chance to find Chinese books in the U.S. He picked up a book on Persian merchants in Southern China and a poetry collection by Ha Jin.

“As someone from Taiwan, it’s hard to access books in simplified Chinese, especially on topics like Middle East studies, which are more commonly published in Mainland China. While China keeps publishing, the quality has declined with censorship,” he said.

Lei Zhou, a Chinese American who was born and raised in China, spent $300 on books at the store’s opening. For him and his community, “it’s the best of both worlds” because JF Books sells banned Chinese books while also offering access to the latest intellectual works from China, which are rarely marketed abroad.

Leaving home and starting a new bookstore from scratch comes with its own challenges. “The hardest part,” Yu said, “is setting up the business. I’m unfamiliar with the laws here, and much of the work requires lawyers and financial experts. Plus, I have to navigate everything in English.”

As Yu reflects on the years of silence and struggle that led him to open a new bookstore in a different country, he finds inspiration in one person: Yan Bofei, the founder of the now-closed Shanghai bookstore, who, in his 70s, still believes that bookstores play a vital public role.

“Every time we talk, I learn something new,” Yu said. “Despite everything he’s been through, Yan still cares deeply about the future of the people in China.”

The audio version of this piece was produced by Mansee Khurana and edited by Ashley Westerman. The digital version was edited by Obed Manuel.