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South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Customers rally to save Parentheses, a French bookshop in Hong Kong
Every week, Talking Points gives you a worksheet to practise your reading comprehension with exercises about the story we've written. Readers in Hong Kong saved a French bookshop that was in danger of closing. Parentheses has been open for nearly four decades. In April, the bookstore wrote a post on their website that read: 'This message is a cry of alarm because Parentheses is in peril ... After 37 years of serving our community, your bookstore could close its doors for good at the end of the year.' The message encouraged the community to increase their visits and order books from the shop. Madeline Progin is the store's general manager. She has been running Parentheses since 1990. She was grateful for everyone who helped the bookshop stay open. 'For me, it's not a job; it's much more. And I suppose if [customers] are all here after so many years, it's really because you like it,' she said. Hong Kong writer, illustrator Maple Lam explains how reading can help you focus A history of serving French learners According to Progin, Parentheses was Hong Kong's first French bookshop. It opened in 1987 in the Duke Wellington House in Central. At the time, Progin said, they sold books alongside items like wine and chocolate. Progin took over in 1990. Then, the shop moved to a larger space in the same building to focus only on selling French books. 'After a few years, it was full until up to the ceilings with books,' said Progin, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1979. Progin said they started by selling books to schools and other people who wanted to learn French. Today, they still have a large section on teaching and learning French as a foreign language. They also have books for children, young adults and adults. 'We even got some from primary [schools] already [learning] French,' she said. Hong Kong's university entrance exam still offers French. But Progin said the language had become less important in schools. 'The syllabus here has changed. French lost its importance for Mandarin took a lot of space,' she said. A change in trends Progin said there were two reasons that the company had not been selling as many books in recent years: online shopping trends and the Covid-19 pandemic. '[Many] of the French people living here have left [after the pandemic],' she said. Progin said their sales 'dropped by half' after the pandemic. It became hard for them to pay the rent. To save the bookshop, Progin said they reached out to everyone they knew in Hong Kong's French community. 'We had a lot of people coming and supporting, and now we just touch wood and hope,' she said. 'I think Hong Kong needs to keep these kind of places. Not only us, but ... there are many old places that are closing, and I think it's sad.' One supporter was Camille*. She moved from France to Hong Kong six years ago. She discovered Parentheses after the pandemic and 'immediately loved the shop'. 'The two ladies [working there] always find some time to chitchat with the clients. The young local shopkeepers remember what you ordered,' she said. 'We would hate to see this old Hong Kong centre of culture [disappear].' She added: 'What we wish is for Parentheses to be a place where more people meet by chance and talk about what ... we read.' The jump in customers has saved the store for now. Progin, her employees and their customers are relieved. But she is unsure how long this can last. *Name changed at interviewee's request. To test your understanding of this story, download our printable worksheet or answer the questions in the quiz below.
South China Morning Post
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Maple Lam's journey from Hong Kong libraries to Los Angeles
Whenever Maple Lam visits her childhood home in Sha Tin, she visits a place that holds many important childhood memories. 'When I go back to Hong Kong, I go to the same library that I always went to as a kid,' explained Lam. 'The last time I was there, I saw a copy of [my book] in the graphic novel section.' She has written and illustrated several books aimed at children. Some of her more recent works include the first two books in a graphic novel series called Monkey King and the World of Myths. Importance of reading Lam's love of reading and art started at a young age. Lam said reading is 'so important' for young people. This is especially true nowadays, as technology and social media have shortened attention spans. '[Reading] helps you focus. It brings you into a brand new world, fiction or non-fiction. It's a new world that you slowly get to immerse yourself into,' she said. 'Magical things, anything that's worthwhile, takes time. You have to let your brain learn that.' Lam moved from Hong Kong to Los Angeles in the United States when she was 11 years old. She called the move 'brutal' because of the new environment. Her life was now filled with the English language. She used books to stay connected to her culture and language. 'I've never stopped reading Chinese books, and that became helpful in making sure I don't forget [my] roots,' she said. Her experience growing up in Hong Kong and Los Angeles influenced her most recent picture book, Dim Sum, Here We Come! The book shows how sharing a meal together can be an act of love. Language of love One source of inspiration for her book was a story Lam read when she was young. It was about a boy who wanted to eat a hamburger and his grandfather who wanted to eat char siu bao. 'It was such a brilliant way to talk about growing up in Hong Kong and how Western and Eastern cultures collided,' she said. The book also showed the cultural differences between the older and younger generations. 'I always wanted to try to recreate something that depicts how it is to be Asian-American in America and my experience of going to dim sum places here in the US,' said Lam. 'Sharing food – that's the language of love.' Use the puzzle below to test your knowledge of the vocabulary words in the story.
