I’ve been reading a lot less this year than before. Part of it is because I barely have any time for myself. Part of it is because I can’t quiet my mind like I used to, when I was a student and could devour a book in hours. Sometimes I miss those days, when I could just walk into one of the many libraries or bookstores in Shanghai and browse through the shelves, looking for something that would catch my eye.
The other day, I spent half a day at a niche bookstore in Shanghai that I stumbled upon occasionally. It was so much better than wasting hours on Tik Tok. The place was peaceful and everyone was reading or studying.
Maybe you can relate to how I feel. The world is so hectic these days. Sometimes, all you need is to find a spot with books and choose one that you like. It can help you tune out the noise and focus on the moment.
If you’re wondering which city in China has the best bookstores, I have my top five: Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Guangzhou.
Let me start with Shanghai, since it’s the city where I live. Shanghai’s bookstores are amazing. There are over 2000 of them, so you’ll never run out of options.
And there are all kinds of bookstores in Shanghai.
You can find general bookstores, comic bookstores, coffee bookstores, children’s bookstores, exam bookstores, second-hand bookstores… you name it, they have it. They’re all over Shanghai, waiting for you to discover them.
And despite being a fast-paced city, Shanghai still has a decent reading culture.
There are the big chain bookstores in Shanghai, like Sanlian Bookstore (三联书店), Zhongshuge Bookstore (钟书阁书店), Xinhua Bookstore (新华书店), and so on. But there are also many small and unique bookstores in Shanghai, like Bananafish Books (香蕉鱼书店), an art bookstore, and NICE TO MEET YOU Bookstore(幸福集荟书店), a bookstore that makes you feel happy…
So I thought, why not explore Shanghai through its bookshops? It sounds like a fun and rewarding thing to do.
Besides, we already talked about other ways to enjoy Shanghai, like eating food, drinking coffee, shopping for groceries, seeing exhibitions, clubbing, and so on.
Are you ready to join me on a bookstore tour of Shanghai?
Table of Contents
Light Space – Xinhua Bookstore
Chinese name: 光的空间·新华书店
Address: 7F, Aegean Shopping Park, No.1588, Wu Zhong Road, Minhang District, Shanghai
上海市闵行区吴中路1588号爱琴海购物公园7楼
When I think of bookstores in Shanghai, the first one that comes to my mind is Light Space – Xinhua Bookstore.
I’m a fan of Tadao Ando’s architecture, so I went there with a pilgrimage mindset and spent half a day reading books.
I love the space there. The light and shadow are awesome.
Most of the books are stored in square boxes, and each box has a beam of light. But the light only illuminates half of the box, creating a harmony of brightness and darkness.
In the wall of books, there are also some larger square openings. You can see the readers through them.
Another thing that impressed me a lot was the “purple roof”. It was like the galaxy in the bookstore. Indeed, in books, you can jump from the solar system to other star systems in an instant.
I also liked the spiral staircase there. Some reading seats were placed along the way up. Besides making good use of the space, this was also one of the best views to observe the bookstore and the fellow readers.
The upper floor of the bookstore was the Pearl Art Museum (上海明珠美术馆). After reading, I could also go to see an exhibition. It made my day.
Duoyun Books (Shanghai Tower Flagship Store)
Chinese name: 朵云书院旗舰店
Address: 52F, Shanghai Tower, No. 501 Middle Yincheng Road, Pudong District, Shanghai
上海市浦东新区银城中路501号上海中心大厦52楼
Duoyun Books is on the 52nd floor of the Shanghai Tower, in the clouds, claiming to be the highest bookstore in the world.
You can see the whole of Shanghai from there. The bookstore covers a whopping 2200 square meters, equivalent to five basketball courts, which means it has a rich collection of books, about 60,000 volumes.
The designer of the bookstore, Yu Ting, wanted to create a pure reading experience. He contrasted the financial vibe of the Shanghai Tower with a “landscape and secret realm” theme.
There are many arches in the bookstore, which are like small mountains. Readers can wander through the caves and surf in the sea of books.
The bookstore floats in the clouds, and the shelves are transparent. It feels like the books are floating too.
Duoyun Books also has a “South Cape of Good Hope”, which is the bookstore’s sky garden. A few trees were already there, and since they couldn’t be moved, the designer simply integrated them into the bookstore and created a new garden.
This place turned out to be the most popular spot in the bookstore. And you have to sit there at sunset. The view is so beautiful, you just want to take it in with your eyes. Taking out a camera seems like a waste of time.
The best way to enjoy Duoyun Books is to sip coffee in the clouds. I tried their latte and it was super good. It was as good as a professional coffee shop on the street (most bookshops make bad coffee, but Duoyun Books is an exception).
You need to make a reservation to enter Duoyun Books, including the next one. Just follow their official account “世纪朵云” (Century Cloud) on WeChat, and you can book a spot.
Sinan Books (Middle Fuxing Rd)
Chinese name: 思南书局（复兴中路店）
Address: No. 517 Middle Fuxing Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
上海市黄浦区复兴中路517号
Duoyun Books has several bookstores in Shanghai under its umbrella, and another one that I love is the one I’m going to talk about: Sinan Books (Middle Fuxing Rd).
The bookstore is in Building 25 of Sinan Mansions, a whole western-style house that is filled with books. It used to be the residence of General Feng Yuxiang (冯玉祥), and the poet Liu Yazi (柳亚子) also lived here for a while.
The three-story cottage is stuffed with books of all kinds. Although it is in the center of Shanghai, the atmosphere here is very relaxed: there are old folks who come to stroll and read books nearby, there are parents who bring their kids to play, and there are fashionable young people who, besides reading books, also strike poses.
Inside the bookstore, you can see Spanish-style arches everywhere, and the main colors are red and green, creating a rich retro vibe. You can sit on the leather sofas, or on the balcony seats by the window, and find that hours have passed by.
The second floor has a café, creative products, and some relatively obscure books.
The third floor hides some Shanghai features, with books, illustrations, and old objects about old Shanghai scattered around.
For example, the original work of Blossom Shanghai, which was adapted into a play and a TV series, is placed in a prominent position. In addition, the third floor also has some seats, and you can often see some foreigners working here.
This is also a place where the latte is super delicious, so delicious that I wanted to ask the coffee maker to teach me the recipe and brewing process (but I forgot in the end), and it’s only about 30 yuan a cup, and sometimes there is a half-price deal for the second cup, which is very cost-effective.
Sinan Books Poetry Store
Chinese name: 思南书局·诗歌店
Address: No. 16 Gaolan Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
上海市黄浦区皋兰路16号
This is a must-visit place for poetry lovers.
The Sinan Books Poetry Store has a fascinating backstory, as the building was originally an Orthodox church, with a unique onion dome, and a strong religious vibe.
It is tucked away under the plane trees, which offer a lush green view in summer, and turn into a stunning yellow in autumn.
When you step inside, you are immediately struck by the sacredness of the church, and if you look up, you will see a mural of Cupid angels shooting arrows of love.
Since the bookstore is called “Poetry Store”, you might wonder: are they mainly selling poetry collections here?
You guessed it! The books here are all about poetry, covering genres like essays, reviews, biographies, picture books, and more.
Sometimes I think that the building itself is more charming than the books.
The metal bookshelves have a similar shape to the building, and they are detached from the church walls, creating a contrast between old and new, and also preserving the original structure.
The designer Yu Ting did a great job with the lighting, he said: “In the poetry bookstore, the light will make you feel both the frustration and joy of life, and the fleeting moment that you may lose or gain due to fate, the poetic feeling comes from that moment, which is similar to the sense of time, I want to express ‘time’ through this light and shadow presentation.”
Fudan Used Bookstore
Chinese name: 复旦旧书店
Address: No. 88 Weide Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai
上海市杨浦区伟德路88号
While many bookstores in Shanghai are chasing after trends, Fudan Old Bookstore is striving for nostalgia, and you could even say it’s like the Charing Cross Road of Shanghai, so old that it makes you happy. Compared with the other bookstores above, I would call it a “vintage bookstore”.
First of all, it has been around for quite a while. The bookstore is run by a couple, and it has been more than 20 years since they started. The bookstore doesn’t even have a fancy sign, just some simple words pasted on the wall.
Secondly, most of the books inside are secondhand, and some of them are probably older than me, and they look very historical.
The bookstore is not refined at all: there are old lockers, and many books piled on the floor, no coffee or creative products, and no catering to the mainstream.
There is a very eye-catching sentence in the bookstore: find books for readers, and find readers for books.
Seeing this, I was actually a bit touched, such a sincere bookstore, there are not many left. But then again, there is also a big problem here, the books are too messy, like a vegetable market.
The books are not arranged according to the library classification, you have to rely on yourself to find what you want, some people may think this is like treasure hunting, but of course some people may think it makes them bald.
The original narrow corridors and walkways, plus this pile of books, make it even harder to walk upstairs, but it seems that this kind of “inelegance” is the style here.
The books here are biased towards literature, history, philosophy, and art, the bestsellers in the big bookstores in Shanghai don’t seem to have much status here, and there are also many out-of-print books that you can see.
Most of the customers are students from the Wujiaochang university district, and there are also old men with reading glasses who enjoy looking for books in the sea of books. Finally, I suggest that you be low-key when taking pictures here, and respect the readers and the owner here.
SDX Joint Publishing Company READWAY
Chinese name: 上海三联书店READWAY
Address: 4-5F, No. 333 Middle Huaihai Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
上海市黄浦区淮海中路333号新天地广场4-5楼
I stumbled upon this branch of SDX Joint Publishing Company in Xintiandi Plaza after having a delicious yellow croaker noodle with my friend nearby, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
Xintiandi Plaza is very trendy, and this bookstore is no less fashionable. The SDX Joint Publishing Company READWAY has a modern design, with a spiral staircase that looks like a piece of art with the light and shadow effects. Almost everyone who sees it will take out their phone and snap a photo.
Before I talk about the books, I have to give a shout-out to the figurines here, which are so many that you might think you walked into a toy store. Violent Bear, Sesame Street dolls, Molly, Sonny Angel… fans of these will be hooked, but they are not cheap, so I don’t recommend buying them here, you can find better deals on Taobao.
The bookstore has its own coffee bar, ELLE cafe, which is the first one in Shanghai. The coffee aroma from the bar is so strong, that coffee lovers will be tempted to try it.
The bookstore has two floors, the figurines, as well as aromatherapy, skateboards, coffee bar and so on are on the 4th floor, and the 5th floor is where you can focus on choosing and reading books.
If you don’t know what to read, this is the place for you. Most of the books here are recommended by the Sanlian Reading Club, and they are completely different from the bestseller lists in other bookstores in Shanghai. You can pick up any book that catches your eye and flip through it, and chances are you won’t be disappointed.
Bananafish Books
Chinese name: 香蕉鱼书店
Address: No. 78 Hongbaoshi Road, Changning District, Shanghai
上海市长宁区红宝石路78号
There are still many niche and special bookstores in Shanghai, such as Bananafish Books. This bookstore is super hidden, next to a residential area, and you won’t see it unless you look carefully.
Bananafish is an art bookstore, but besides that, it is also an exhibition space and an art workshop. It mainly sells art books from independent publishers and artists from all over the world, which are very niche.
It is already hard for physical bookstores nowadays, and these people who make niche publications are going against the tide. And these books often have low sales, and breaking even is a problem, so cherish them while you can.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand these whimsical art books, the staff will also actively recommend books based on your interests, or their own favorites.
Art books are usually more expensive, so if you really like them, you can consider buying them, but if you think it’s too painful, just read more books at Bananafish.
Wrapping Up
These are some of my favorite bookstores in Shanghai, but they are just a drop in the ocean of the city’s literary scene, and I’d love to hear your recommendations too.
Shanghai is perfect for city walks, you can pick a theme every day, and discover new places for a month without getting bored, and bookstores in Shanghai can fill up 2-3 days easily.
I’m also a fan of bookstores in Beijing, every time I go to Beijing, I make a point of visiting Page One in Sanlitun, and I’ll give you the scoop on that next time.
If you have any other bookstores in Shanghai that are worth checking out, or if you’re curious about the bookstores in other Chinese cities, don’t be shy and leave a comment.
