Shanghai

Garden Books

This is Shanghai's longest-running private foreign language bookstore which boasts a fine selection of literary titles, "all from the top publishers in the world", according to the founder and manager. Most of the books here are hardcover so have a long shelf life.

Besides the main store in the heart of the former French Concession, Garden Books has a branch in the Shanghai Center, which is smaller and sells mostly travel books and coffee-table books about the city and elsewhere in China.

Main: 325 Changle Road, Huangpu district. 021-5404-8728.

Branch: Rm 116, 1376 Nanjing Road West, Jing'an district.

Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore

Established in 1950, the shop is now Shanghai's only State-owned store selling foreign-language books.

Besides the usual travel books, dictionaries and the like, the shop has an especially strong Japanese section, where the latest manga publications can be found. You can occasionally find books that are out of print in Japan, and sometimes books are sold at discount prices.

390 Fuzhou Road, Huangpu district. 021-2320-4981.

Guangzhou

Located in TaiKoo Hui, a shopping mall known as the city's center for luxury brands, the bookstore provides a luxury reading and shopping experience.

Fang Suo Commune

The floor-to-ceiling shelves on the wall behind the cashier desks are loaded with English books. Located in TaiKoo Hui, a shopping mall known as the city's center for luxury brands, the bookstore provides a luxury reading and shopping experience. Also on offer are delicate handicrafts and stationery in a 500-sq-km showplace, where 30 brands were first introduced to China.

Lectures by writers, musicians, artists and scholars from around the world are held at least once a week. It will open a branch in Chengdu this year.

MU35, TaiKoo Hui Shopping Mall, 383 Tianhe Road, Tianhe district. 020-3868-2327.

Keep updated with events on http://site.douban.com/122554/

New Page

Opened in 2005, the foreign-language section of the Guangzhou Book Center provides readers with imported original editions. The staff will also take requests for books and help find them for you. The bookstore keeps track of the latest bestsellers overseas, such as the fictional House of Cards on which the popular American TV series of the same title is based, and stocks them for readers.

4/F, Guangzhou Book Center, 123 Tianhe Road, Tianhe district.