To engage its digital-native patrons, Dongfang Bookstore has innovated with literary mystery bundles, each containing a curated book paired with a handwritten postcard, said Li, adding that the bookstore also hosts regular reading salons to unearth hidden gems for a new generation of readers.

　　As night fell, young readers sat bathed in window light, their page-turning whispers weaving with the old street's bustle into a singular symphony of white noise.

　　The scene echoed the argument of renowned Chinese historical geographer Ge Jianxiong: true humanistic reading defies haste, much like our repeated recitations of classic Tang poems and Song verses -- each encounter sparking fresh revelations. For such reading, the printed word retains an enduring sanctity.

　　Just as Ernest Hemingway found inspiration for The Sun Also Rises through Shakespeare and Company's shelves, today's readers at Dongfang Bookstore reclaim the art of “offline thinking,“ where physical books teach neural weaving amidst AI's fragmentation of knowledge.

　　“Should we abandon reading today, surrendering entirely to science, technology and AI, what marrow would remain in the bones of our humanity?“ Ge raised a question that he had long been pondering.

　　In the Dongfang Bookstore, the answer lingers within every tenderly turned page, where civilization's warmth persists, forever beyond algorithms' cold grasp.

　　“The bookstore isn't some anti-AI bunker, but a living testament that the most precious values can only be measured by the human heart,“ Li said.