誠品書店改變香港書業格局?

At first glance, Hong Kong seems an enviable hub for bibliophiles: It's home to a buzzing book fair, a well-regarded literary festival, two creative-writing programs and Asia's most prestigious literary prize. But in terms of bookstores, it has so far lagged behind other Asian cities such as Tokyo, Taipei and even Bangkok.

乍一看來，香港似乎是一個令人羨慕的愛書人的樂園。它是一個熱鬧非凡的圖書展和一個備受推崇的文學節的舉辦地，它還擁有兩個創意寫作項目和亞洲最具聲望的文學獎。但是，在書店方面，迄今爲止它還落後於東京、臺北甚至曼谷等其他亞洲城市。

That may be about to change with the arrival of Eslite, a Taiwanese bookstore chain famous not only for an extensive collection of books but also in-house art galleries, cultural events, designer products and cafés.

隨着誠品書店登陸香港，這個狀況或許即將發生改變。這家來自臺灣的連鎖書店不僅以廣泛多樣的書籍聞名，其自有畫廊、文化活動、名家設計產品和咖啡廳也同樣爲人所知。

On Saturday, Eslite opens in Hysan Place, a mall in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay district. The three-story shop will stretch to 41,000 square feet, making it the city's largest bookstore, and will stock some 100,000 titles that readers can browse and buy seven days a week. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the store will be open 24 hours a day─perfect for night owls in a city that doesn't sleep.

8月11日，誠品書店在香港銅鑼灣希慎廣場開業。這家店有三層，面積達41,000平方英尺（約3,800平方米），成爲香港最大的書店。該店每週七天營業，備有約100,000本書供讀者瀏覽購買。此外，該店還在每週四、週五和週六全天24小時營業，對於香港這個不眠之城的夜貓子來說真是再美不過了。

Eslite was founded in 1989, the year after Taiwan's military dictatorship lifted a ban on newspapers and magazines, and it went on to become a patron of the island's cultural renaissance. Its 48 branches host more than 3,000 activities a year, including lectures, readings, concerts and art exhibitions.

1989年，也就是臺灣的軍事獨裁政權宣佈解除報禁的一年後，誠品書店成立。在這之後，該書店成爲了島內文化復興活動的贊助者，如今其48家分店每年要舉辦逾3,000場文化活動，其中包括演講、讀書會、音樂會和展覽等。

Founder Robert Wu, who ran a successful catering business before opening the first Eslite on Taipei's Dunhua Road, kept the bookstore afloat for 17 years before it became profitable in 2006. 'Eslite is a cultural phenomenon,' he said in Hong Kong at the Design for Asia Awards last December. 'It's all about the people, the place, the culture.'

在臺北的敦化路開設第一家誠品書店之前，吳清友經營着一家成功的餐飲企業。在吳清友維繫了17年之後，誠品書店於2006年開始盈利。去年12月，他在香港參加“亞洲最具影響力設計大獎”(Design for Asia Awards)頒獎禮時說，誠品書店是一種文化現象，它的真諦在於人、地域和文化。

Eslite will mark its entry into Hong Kong with two exhibitions and 30 activities over the next month, including sessions with local authors such as cultural critic Ma Ka-fai and a concert with singer-songwriter Chet Lam.

在開業後的一個月內，誠品書店將舉辦兩場展覽和30場文化活動來慶祝其進入香港，其間香港一些本土作家，比如文化批評學者馬家輝等將主持活動，此外香港本土創作歌手林一峯也將參與音樂演出。

Like its flagship branches in Taiwan, the Hysan Place location will include a music and video boutique, stationery, a teahouse, a coffee shop, an art gallery and an event room. English- and foreign-language books will make up 40% of the selection, compared with 15% at most Taiwan stores.

與其在臺灣的旗艦店一樣，誠品書店希慎廣場店設有一家音樂音像製品店、一家文具店、一家茶室、一家咖啡店、一個畫廊以及一間活動室。英文及其他語種的外文書籍將佔到所售書籍40%的比例，而臺灣大多數分店的這一比例爲15%。

Meanwhile, the store's opening has prompted other local bookstores to up their game with renovations and an expanded selection. Commercial Press, Hong Kong's biggest bookstore chain, has retrained staff, renovated its Causeway Bay branch and doubled its selection of English-language books.

同時，該店在香港的開業也促使當地其他書店致力於創新和擴大圖書種類來提高競爭力。香港最大的連鎖書店商務印書館已經對員工重新進行培訓，重新裝修了其在銅鑼灣的圖書中心，並且將英文書籍的種類擴充了一倍。

Though Eslite's expansion has garnered buzz, some cultural critics are greeting the chain with ambivalence. Au Wai-lin, founder of Hong Kong journal 'C for Culture,' worries about its impact on independent bookstores, which specialize in nonmainstream books and titles banned in mainland China─genres that Eslite has excelled at selling in Taiwan.

雖然誠品書店在香港的擴張引發了陣陣熱潮，但是一些文化批評人士在對它表示歡迎的同時也有一些矛盾心理。香港雜誌《文化現場》的創辦人歐惠蓮就對其對獨立書店的影響表達了擔憂，這些書店專營在中國大陸被禁的非主流書籍，而誠品在臺灣就擅長銷售這些類型的書。

'It may be an exciting event for many people and most of the media coverage is positive,' says Ms. Au. 'But what I'm concerned about is it's probably [leading to] a crisis of the existing local bookshops.'

歐惠蓮說，對許多人而言這或許是一個激動人心的事件，大多數的媒體報道也是正面的，但我擔心的是它可能會使本地現有的書店陷入危機。

Others take a rosier view. 'In general I think it's a good thing, because they will be hosting lots of cultural activities, which could help the cultural scene in Hong Kong,' says Daniel Lee, co-owner of Hong Kong Reader, a Mongkok bookstore that holds regular discussions and readings.

其他一些人則持更樂觀的觀點。香港旺角的序言書室的店主之一李達寧說，總的來說我認爲這是一件好事，因爲他們會舉辦很多文化活動，這可能會帶動香港的文化局面。該書店也會定期舉辦一些討論會和讀書會。

'We see more and more people into reading,' he says. 'More people are paying attention to politics and social issues, and when people want to do something about it, they need to read about it first.'

“我們看到越來越多的人喜歡上閱讀，”他說，“更多人開始關注政治和社會問題，當人們想做一些這方面的事情時，他們首先需要讀一些東西。”