When I first began to learn Chinese with my kids, I had no idea where to buy Chinese books. Since my family lives in a small town in California (United States), we have no local Chinese bookstores or libraries. Now, we’re thankful for online Chinese bookstores that help us create a Chinese learning environment at home! These shops sell interesting picture books and chapter books in both simplified and traditional Chinese!
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Where can I buy Chinese books for my children and students?
This post features the best online Chinese bookstores in the United States. Since many of you are from all over the world, I’ve also included popular bookshops from other countries. In my extensive Chinese book reviews, I typically include ISBN and store links for each book and hope it helps save you time!
I’ve also organized the online Chinese bookstores by simplified Chinese versus traditional Chinese books and learning materials.
This post may have some affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission which supports my blog and free printables at no additional cost to you. Please see the disclosure policy for details.
Online Chinese Bookstores that sell both simplified and traditional Chinese books
1. Amazon
- Website: amazon.com
- Website language: Varies by country
- Content: Amazon is the most convenient retailer with the option of Prime 2-day shipping. However, they have a small selection of Chinese books, movies, and music. In addition, many of their bilingual Chinese/English books have inaccurate Chinese translations. For non-Prime products, please read reviews carefully. Some 3rd-party sellers take a long time to ship products and will charge a fortune for returning damaged or incorrect products.
2. China Sprout
- Website: chinasprout.com
- Website language: English
- Content: China Sprout is a US-based online Chinese store with the largest selection of books, movies, & music. Toys, stickers, clothing, & other cultural items are also available. Individual books and booksets tend to cost higher than other bookstores. Delivery time ranges from a few days to months, so you may need to contact them to check stock and shipping status.
3. Chinese Books for Children
- Website: chinesebooksforchildren.com
- Website language: English
- Content: Chinese Books for Children is a US-based online Chinese bookstore with many books in simplified and traditional Chinese, Pinyin, Zhuyin, and English. They often sell large booksets as individual books. This makes the cost per book more expensive, but it’s a good option if you want only one book rather than a large set.
4. Tiendao Christian Media Association
- Website: ustiendao.net
- Website language: English, traditional Chinese
- Content: Tiendao is an online retailer with Chinese Christian books and bibles for children and adults. We’ve had good experiences shopping here, but delivery takes a couple weeks.
Online Chinese bookstores that specialize in simplified Chinese books
Bookshops in the United States
1. Jo Jo Learning
- Website: jojolearning.com
- Website Language: English
- Content: US-based online bookstore with a convenient subscription program available for busy parents. They are the exclusive North-American retailer for Luka Reading Robot and Youdao Dictionary Reading Pen. The website is easy to navigate, and they are our preferred store for Chinese books.
Bookshops in China that ship internationally
1. JD
- Website: https://global.jd.com/
- Website language: Simplified Chinese; see Pay Space Magazine has a detailed guide for navigating the website.
- Content: E-retailer with large selection of books, movies, & music at low prices. Toys, stickers, clothing, & other cultural items available. We’ve ordered here indirectly via third-party agent websites.
2. Taobao
- Website: world.taobao.com
- Website language: Simplified Chinese; see Hong Kong Living and iMoney Malaysia have tips for shopping on Taobao.
- Content: Collection of various stores and independent sellers with vast selection of books, movies, & music at low prices. Toys, stickers, clothing, & other cultural items available. Since I cannot read Chinese well, I’ve ordered here indirectly via third-party agent websites.
Bookshops in Singapore and Malaysia
1. Odonata Publishing Sdn Bhd (红蜻蜓出版有限司公)
- Website: odonatabooks.com
- Website language: English, Simplified Chinese
- Content: Malaysian-based online Chinese bookstore with a large collection of picture books, Chinese comics, textbooks and more for all ages. See my review of Odonata Chinese leveled readers here.
2. My Story Treasury
- Website: mystorytreasury.com
- Website language: English
- Content: My Story Treasury is a Singaporean bookstore with simplified Chinese books for young children.
3. Flip For Joy (乐翻天)
- Website: flipforjoy.com.sg
- Website language: English
- Content: Flip For Joy is a Singaporean bookstore with simplified Chinese books for young children.
4. Read With Me Mommy
- Website: readwithmemommy.com
- Website language: English
- Content: Read with Me Mommy is a Singaporean bookstore with simplified Chinese books for all ages.
For parents who are based in Singapore and Malaysia, Popular Bookstore is a commonly recommended bookstore for Chinese books and other resources for kids.
Related: 10+ Ways to Encourage Your Child to Read
Online Chinese bookstores that specialize in traditional Chinese books
Bookshops in the United States
1. Stream of Praise
- Website: store.sop.org
- Website language: English, Traditional Chinese
- Content: Chinese Christian music CDs, DVDs, Chinese Christian sound books, clothing, and accessories. We’ve had great experiences with ordering and gifting Stream of Praise music CDs, DVDs, and sound books (review here).
2. Yo! Baby Shop
- Website: yobabyshop.com
- Website language: English, Traditional Chinese
- Content: United States-based store with Chinese books, furniture, clothing, and accessories.
3. Gloria’s Bookstore
- Website: glorias-bookstore.com
- Website language: Traditional Chinese, some English
- Content: Gloria’s Bookstore is a US-based online Chinese bookstore with large selection of children’s books
4. Ciaohu
- Website: ciaohu.com
- Website language: Traditional Chinese
- Content: 巧虎 is an educational Chinese children’s program. Monthly subscription to 巧虎 (Qiaohu, Ciaohu ) includes a DVD, workbook, & toy or game. Other 巧虎 toys, CDs, & books available on their website.
Related: 巧虎 (Qiaohu / Ciaohu) Review of Chinese Show and Workbooks for Kids
Bookshops in Canada
1. Little Kozzi
- Website: kozzi.ca
- Website language: English, Traditional Chinese
- Content: Canadian-based store with Chinese books and flashcards
Bookshops in Taiwan and Hong Kong that ship internationally
1. Books.com.tw
- Website: books.com.tw
- Website language: Traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, English (Change language at top right corner of website by clicking on the world icon)
- Content: Taiwan’s largest internet retailer. Vast selection of books, movies, & music. Toys, sticks, clothing, & other cultural items available.
2. Seeds Hong Kong
- Website: seeds.com.hk
- Website language: Traditional Chinese
- Content: Hong Kong-based online retailer with books, toys, games; ships internationally
Where we typically buy Chinese books in the United States
Buying simplified Chinese books in the United States
- Taobao and JD have relatively inexpensive books, but shipping costs may be high regardless of whether you shop directly or through an agent.
- JoJo Learning‘s website is in English and offers wonderful customer service.
- We use China Sprout as a last resort since their prices are so high, but they have the largest selection.
Buying traditional Chinese books in the United States
- Gloria’s bookstore is convenient to shop from since some parts of her website are in English. Prices are more affordable compared to other shops, but please note that pre-order items can take months to arrive.
- Books.com.tw offers fast overseas delivery, but the costs of books and shipping are high. While we have not shopped here, many of our friends have shared positive shopping experiences.
What are your favorite online Chinese bookstores?
Where do you typically buy Chinese books for your family or school? Please share in the comments.
On Instagram and Facebook, tag a photo @chalkacademy and @chalkacademybooks and use the hashtag #ChalkAcademy so our family can check out your favorite books!
Tips on how to teach children Chinese reading
- When and How to Introduce Chinese Characters to Kids?
- Raising Multilingual Children as a Non-Fluent Parent: Lessons Learned
- Create a Print-Rich Environment with Labels that Promote Literacy
- How I Taught My Child 1000+ Chinese Characters as a Non-Fluent Speaker
- 5 Basic Tips for Memorizing Chinese Characters
Happy Chinese learning, friends!
Sue says
Hello from Toronto!
I find your web page super helpful! thank you for putting the information together. I’m trying to introduce cantonese to my 3.5 year son. English is the dominant language at home. He has been very resistant each time i try to ‘teach’ him chinese. I went to https://www.ximalaya.com/ to see if they have audio books or stories narrated in Cantonese. I don’t think I saw any? My chinese reading skills are lacking. haha. Anyway, Thanks for the information!
Betty says
Hi Sue! Sorry for the late reply! I wrote this post How to Use 喜马拉雅 Ximalaya FM When You Can’t Read Chinese which I hope can help! You can search 粤语故事, and then tap “更多 (even more)” but I’m not sure how many there are. Cantonese for Families is a great website with more Cantonese resources. Hope this can help!
Grace says
Hi Betty,
I am so glad I found your site. Thank you for giving me the tips and resources for kickstarting my Chinese learning journey with my almost 3.5yo daughter! A question I have is how you were able to read picture books in Chinese to her while being nonfluent yourself? Did you have to write the pinyin at the bottom of the page for every page for every book??
Betty Choi says
Hi Grace! Thank you so much for taking the time to write! When I first started learning Chinese, I had post-it notes on every page and wrote Pinyin and English translations for every word. As I gradually learned more words, I began to put the post-it note at the front or back of the book and only write down the words I didn’t know to force myself to try to read without peeking. I never wrote in any books though as I wanted my notes to be removable! Hope that helps!
B says
Dangdang http://www.dangdang.com is great, super low prices and ships internationally for pretty cheap (shipping to USA is charged as 100% of the value of books purchased). No need to buy from different sellers like Taobao and everything is handled charged and shipped directly to you by Dangdang. International credit cards accepted no shipping forwarding funny business necessary. Only drawback is you seem to need a Chinese cell phone number to create an account although it may be possible to login via WeChat.
Yvonne says
Hello, I just wanted to add. Prior to discovering this website and a whole community of parents, I stumbled across https://www.asianparent.com/index.aspx. The website looks like it needs a bit of updating, but they are real and I have ordered from them (based in US). The nice thing is descriptions are written in English which makes browsing a lot easier for me. They have both simplified and traditional books.
Ming Hui says
Thank you for your blog. It has been very helpful during the Covid period where we are doing more at-home learning and I am more able to focus on Chinese learning.
To add to your list – in Canada, there is an online bookstore founded by a Vancouver Taiwanese mom. It’s https://ibookiee.com/ 愛塔豬. – good collection of Traditional Chinese books. I use both ibookie and Little Kozzi, depending on what I am looking for.