THE iconic Shanghai Book Company, Singapore's oldest bookstore, is in danger of closing.

It is mired in debt and disputes between its local and Chinese owners, and an extraordinary general meeting will be held on May 22 to decide its fate.

The shop, which moved from Victoria Street to its present Bras Basah Complex home in 1990, has been a household name among Chinese-speaking homes here since 1925.

Its current woes began in 2001, when the bookstore's owners entered into a joint venture with China National Publication Import and Export Corporation (CNPIEC), a major book exporter in China.

That year, CNPIEC pumped in US$300,000 for a 35 per cent stake in the company. With this came a change of name to The Shanghai Book (CNPIEC) Company.

The joint venture was entered into to keep the company afloat because its owners here, the Chen family, could not convince its next generation to take the reins of the business, said Singaporean owner Chen Mong Tse, the son of the original owners.

Despite the infusion of funds, the company found itself sliding deeper into debt because of a fall in sales of Chinese language books.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.