Looking for a way to get your kids away from video games and engaged in more meaningful tasks? If so, then the Dragon Club in Shekou might be the place for you.

The Dragon Club is no ordinary book café. The club offers visitors a variety of books to read and borrow across different genres for pre-school up to adult readers. Different membership opportunities are provided, starting at 999 RMB per year.

“The majority of the books we have are in English, but we also have a wide selection of French, Italian and Spanish books,” Paola said. In fact, the Dragon Club is a partner of the French association “Shenzhen Bienvenue” and we offered them a dedicated space for their book collection.

Paola Sellitto, originally from Italy, has lived in Shenzhen for 15 years with her husband and two children. She holds a degree in Chinese language and literature. Paola’s partner, Marcia Yang, has a background in print and visual media. She is from Hunan Province and previously lived and worked in Hong Kong for nine years.

Both aim to let the children, both local and international, be exposed to literature and culture from all over the world. “When we moved to Shekou, we realized that there were a lot of learning centers but no space for kids to socialize and read together. That’s how we came up with this idea,” Paola stated.

Marcia and Paola met in 2020. Their children attended the same school, and they began organizing school activities together for the Parent Support Group. During the summer of 2021, they started the Dragon book reading club as a way to entertain their own kids and nurture in them a love of reading. This activity slowly became a successful business.

In addition, the Dragon club is not only a space to read, they organize many activities such as movie nights, art and crafts, cooking classes, board games, and different types of workshops. The space at the club can also be rented out for gatherings and birthday parties. They provide the space and decorations, the catering through several restaurant partners, beverages, games/activities, and birthday cakes.

The club is open every day from 10:00am to 6:00pm. For more information, you can follow the Dragon Club Instagram and WeChat official accounts. The club is located in Haiwan Garden, Villa #32 in Shekou.