10 Best Bookstores in China

I am somewhat obsessed with books, stationery, and coffee. Whenever I travel, I look out for the best places to stare at pretty stationery and hold pretty books. Here’s the culmination of that obsession and a year of travelling around China.

10. Zhongshuge, Hangzhou

Chinese name: 种书阁
Chinese address:杭州滨江区星光国际广场4幢203-205号

Not only is this bookstore stunning, but it has so many books (mostly Chinese ones, of course). It would also be a good place to go have a coffee and read for a while. I ended up finding a bilingual Chinese-English graphic novel explaining Buddhist dogma. Although it’s really specific, I learned a lot about Buddhism and it’s a great learning resource.

9. Eslite Spectrum, Hong Kong

Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Rd, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Via Honecombers

This book store is a three- or four-story monstrosity that was somehow completely full of people. They had books in English, but mostly the books were in Cantonese. They had a really good stationery and boutique section. Their cafe is extortionate, but is just about the most instagrammable thing I have ever seen. It doubles as a florist, so you can have your coffee surrounded by plants and fresh-cut flowers.

8. Calligraphy District, Xi’an

The calligraphy district is located just inside the South Gate of the old city walls.

The calligraphy district is the best place to buy traditional Chinese stationery bits. You can buy brushes, paints, and paper for next to nothing. It’s truly amazing. To be fair, most cities have a calligraphy mall, but this district is much better looking. It’s also a great place to buy paintings. The artists have stalls and you can pick out some of their works and maybe get them to personalize a fan or a painting with some calligraphy. It’s definitely worth walking around.

7. Shanghai Book Company and Shanghai Book Traders

Chinese address (Shanghai Book Company): 上海市黄浦区福州路401号 // 401 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai
Chinese address (Shanghai Book Traders): 上海是黄埔区福州路390号1-7层 390 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai

This one is a two-for-one. These two shops are just down the street from each other on Fuzhou Road.

The Shanghai Book company specializes in art books. It’s a great place to find anything and everything related to art. On the second floor there is a shop dedicated to old books and expensive calligraphy tools. It’s really more like museum than a shop!

The Shanghai Book Traders specialize in foreign books. This is a great bookshop to find whatever English-language book you might need. It’s huge – it’s 7 floors of books.

6. Fangsuo Collective, Chengdu

Chinese address: 成都市中纱帽8号远洋古里B1层M068号

This bookstore is in an underground shopping mall in Chengdu – right under a temple! It’s got a super cool aesthetic and has probably every book being published in China right now.

5. 798 Art District, Beijing

There are two bookstores that come to mind, although the 798 district has loads of cool shops. One is located in an alley called 陶瓷三街. I think the shop is called 壹是创意店. The shop sells some books as well as art, jewelry, accessories and clothes.

The second is on 798东街 around the corner from Las Coffee (which is really nice, by the way). There are two bookstores there. It’s a really cool shop – the bookcases are floor-to-ceiling.

It’s worth just wandering around though – there are hidden gems everywhere.

4. Shanghai Culture Mall and Baixin Stationery

Address ( 上海文化商厦 Shanghai Culture Mall): 上海市黄浦区福州路355号 // 355 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai
Address (百新文具馆 Baxing Stationery): 上海市黄浦区福州路364号 // 364 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai

The culture mall is the best place to buy Chinese, Western, and Japanese stationery. There are international brands of pens, paints, and other supplies. The prices are pretty good and if you’re willing to negotiate, you can probably get even better deals.

3. Momibooks, Lijiang

Chinese name: 猫的天空之城概念书店
Chinese address: 丽江市古城区大研街道五一街饮玉巷2号

This is a chain that has a store in most cities and towns in China. I recommend going – they have a great selection of stationery (mostly Japanese). This shop also had some books and a cafe. Everything is just so cute!

2. Liangyou, Qingdao

Chinese name: 良友书坊
Chinese address: 青岛市市南区安徽路5号东门4楼

This is bookstore also functions as an art gallery and cafe. They only have a small selection of books, but I found some beautiful illustrated travel journals there, which I devoured. I’m still trying to track down the last book by that author. We spent a few hours painting here.

1. Mandarin Books, Kunming

Chinese name: 漫林书苑
Address: 昆明市文化巷52号附8号

via english.yunnan.cn

Last, but by no means least, is Mandarin books. I have written a lot recently about how this is my favorite bookstore ever. They have some really interesting books they publish themselves, which you can’t get anywhere else. They specialize in pre-Communist travel writing and ethnic minorities. It also has a great stationery selection, some Chinese books, as well as foreign books. It’s probably the only place you can buy books in Spanish, French, or German in Western China. I will forever go back there when in Kunming. You can look at the books they publish under Caravan Press on their website.

So those are my favorite places to find books and stationery in China so far.

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