Aesop has officially made its debut in Chongqing , China , opening its inaugural store at Longfor Beicheng Paradise Walk with a literary twist: instead of products, shelves were lined with books as part of the brand's annual Women's Library campaign.
Rather than a conventional product-filled launch, Aesop 's Chongqing debut featured walls of books and zero fanfare. Visitors arriving between March 23 and March 27 could reserve a visit and select a complimentary title by women authors to take home. Staff
stamped each book's title page with a custom seal and sprayed it with a woody fragrance, turning every copy into a keepsake. One visitor, Ms. Meng , said , "However, when Aesop opened, there was no grand opening ceremony.
Instead, there was a whole wall of books." The 2026 campaign is titled "See the Mountains, See the Waters, See Her" — a phrase that nods to Chongqing 's identity as China 's "mountain city" and serves as a metaphor for women's qualities: mountain-like humility, resilience and endurance, and water-like flexibility, intelligence, and healing.
The curated 36-book list was shaped by nine female reading ambassadors from fields spanning media, academia, literature, art, science, and film.
The Chongqing -specific selection includes titles such as Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper by British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop , a memoir rooted in her experience as a student at Sichuan University in the 1990s. Since the Women's Library project began in 2021 , Aesop has given away more than 115,000 books globally…
