The rarified atmosphere of an online bookshop

Whenever somebody is asked about the earliest online secondhand book-selling platform in China, if they can come up with an answer, chances are that it will be Kongfuzi Jiushu Wang (Confucius Old Book website). The site was set up in 2002, eight years after the internet arrived in China.

Though the website is well-known for selling secondhand books, its founder, Sun Yutian, 43, born in Shanxi province, prefers to call the site's wares "old books".

"Secondhand book is only a category of books we sell, besides which we also sell books published during the period of the Republic of China period (1912-1949), as well as non-bestsellers," Sun says.