The Toko Buku Liong, or Liong Bookstore, in 1994 before the once-bustling Indonesian bookstore owned by a Chinese-Indonesian couple in the 1950s was illegally demolished. Photo: Lie Djoen Liem
The Toko Buku Liong, or Liong Bookstore, in 1994 before the once-bustling Indonesian bookstore owned by a Chinese-Indonesian couple in the 1950s was illegally demolished. Photo: Lie Djoen Liem
Indonesia
Lifestyle /  Arts & Culture

Plight of Chinese-Indonesians reflected in story of once-thriving bookstore now demolished, but fondly remembered

  • A bustling hub of readers the 1950s, the Liong Bookstore in the Indonesian city of Semarang also published two wildly popular comics
  • A descendant of its Chinese-Indonesian owners has teamed up with a Romanian curator to launch an online exhibition about the store

Sylviana Hamdani

Updated: 12:22pm, 22 Sep, 2020

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The Toko Buku Liong, or Liong Bookstore, in 1994 before the once-bustling Indonesian bookstore owned by a Chinese-Indonesian couple in the 1950s was illegally demolished. Photo: Lie Djoen Liem
The Toko Buku Liong, or Liong Bookstore, in 1994 before the once-bustling Indonesian bookstore owned by a Chinese-Indonesian couple in the 1950s was illegally demolished. Photo: Lie Djoen Liem
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