Librairie Avant-Garde (先锋书店) is Nanjing's most celebrated independent bookshop, occupying a former underground car park and air-raid shelter on the Wutai Mountain campus. The main space is unexpectedly vast and dramatically lit, with a cross-shaped floor plan, wooden shelving, and a coffee bar toward the back. The stock leans literary, art, and architecture, with a strong Chinese literature section and thoughtful foreign language selection.
The bookshop has become something of a cultural institution in the city. Its location — underground, slightly hidden, reached by a ramp — gives it the quality of a discovery even if you know exactly where it is. Several additional branches have opened around Nanjing since. This original location remains the best.