Best Bookstores in Beijing

As the cultural center of China, Beijing has plenty of bookshops with a large variety of books in all fields. Commonly, each big bookshop in this city is divided into sections according to different books for sale: Literature, Arts, Academic Books, Business, Administration, Practical Books, Education, References, Engineering, Computer, Industry and Miscellaneous. VCDs, DVDs and other kinds of digital reading materialscan also be found in bookshops. In addition to those, some bookshops have computerized Book Search to help the buyers conveniently locate the books they want. Furthermore, the bookshops will introduce New Arrivals, New Journals and Best Sellers tothe buyers. Some bookshops even have Book Sales Rankings. These will help the buyers make their choices more easily.

Here list some biggest and best bookstores in Beijing:

Wangfujing Xinhua Bookstore

Chinese name: 王府井新华书店（wáng fǔ jǐng xīn huá shū diàn）
Wangfujing Bookstore, aka Wangfujing Xinhua Bookstore, is the one of the best bookstores in Beijing and largest chain bookshop in China with thousands of branches. Wangfujing Xinhua Bookstore is known as the largest one in China. It offers a large collection of books involving politics, economics, literature, education, art and science, with a total number nearly 200,000 books. VCDs, DVDs and digital reading materials can also be found in the bookshop.
Opening Hours: 09:00 - 21:30
Location: No.218, Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District (next to Oriental Plaza)
 

Chinese name: 中国书店（zhōng guó shū diàn）
As one of the best bookstores in Beijing, it is not very big one, but it offers many traditional Chinese literature works. The new books here are at an 80% discount normally, while there are some second hand books as well at much cheaper prices. Additionally, you will find an impressive selection of books on Chinese painting, calligraphy and photography.
Opening Hours: 09:00 - 17:00 (Weekdays)
Location: No.115, East Liulichang Street, Xicheng District

Xinhua Bookstore

Chinese name: 中国语言文化大学出版社书店（zhōng guó yǔ yán wén huà dà xué chū bǎn shè shū diàn）
This is the best one from which to buy Chinese language learning books of all levels. There are also dictionaries, encyclopedias, linguistic books and reading materials from which to choose.
Opening Hours: 09:00 - 17:00 (Weekdays) 09:00 - 16:00 (Weekends)
Location: Chengfu Rd, Haidian DistrictChinese name: 北京图书大厦（běi jīng tú shū dà shà）
There is a great variety of books from which you may choose. In this biggest bookstore in Beijing, you will find books written in English in the basement, and there are many Chinese language learning materials on the third floor. The personnel in the bookshop are very helpful, and they speak English.
Location: No.17, West Changan Avenue, Xicheng DistrictChinese name: 燕沙图书天地（yàn shā tú shū tiān dì）
Located on the sixth floor of Lufthansa Friendship Shopping Center, it's known as one of the best bookstores in Beijing. Plenty of artistic picture albums from home and abroad are found here. There are over 8,000 kinds of imported books, of which the books from Hong Kong and Taiwan comprise the greatest part. Apart from that, the classical CDs, VCDs are all worth buying as a collection.
Location: 6/F, Lufthansa Friendship Shopping Center, No.1, Yuanda Rd, Haidian District
 Chinese Name: 老书虫（láo shū chóng）
As the most popular foreign language bookstore in Beijing, Bookworm can easily catch your attention by its huge red wall. The bookworm Beijing is the only Asian bookstore listed in the Top 10 Bookstores around the World selected by Lonely Planet. The Bookworm Literary Festival held annually also attracts many visitors. Actually, it serves not only as a bookstore, but also a restaurant and café. If you want to relax yourself from the busy life, the Bookworm is a great choice!
Location: No.4 Building, South Sanlitun Rd, Chaoyang District
 

Foreign Languages Bookstore

Chinese name: 外文书店（wài wén shū diàn）
Wangfujing Foreign Language Bookstore has a history of nearly 50 years, and it is the preference of many foreigners in Beijing. This one has a great number of books written in English covering literature, history, politics, art and even cooking. Most of them are published by Chinese publishing houses, while there are also some original imported books from foreign countries. There are several branches in Beijing.
Wangfujing Branch
Opening Hours: 09:00 - 22:00
Location: No.235, Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District
Haidian Branch
Opening Hours: 09:00 - 18:30
Location: No.25, West Haidian Street, Haidian DistrictChinese name: 三联读者服务部（sān lián dú zhě fú wù bù）
It is a large one with helpful staff members. What makes it special is its Internet Café on the second floor.
Location: No.22, East Meishuguan Rd, Chaoyang DistrictChinese name: 外文进口书店（wài wén jìn kǒu shū diàn）
Located on the third floor of Foreign Languages Bookstore in Wangfujing Street, it sells mainly imported books. There are special shelves for publishing houses such as Oxford and Cambridge.