Since my family lives in a small town in California (United States), we have no local Chinese bookstores or libraries. Therefore, we depend on online Chinese bookstores for quality Chinese children’s books for our home library to create a Chinese learning environment.
Finding Chinese books has been extra challenging due to my lack of fluency.
However, I am thankful for a wide selection of online Chinese bookstores that sell picture books, chapter books, and sometimes games and toys.
In my Chinese book reviews, I typically include ISBN and store links for each book. But if you’d like to explore stores directly, please see options below.
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Where to buy Chinese books for children online?
This post features popular online Chinese bookstores in the United States. Since many of you are from all over the world, I’ve also added some shops from other countries.
The online Chinese bookstores are sorted by simplified versus traditional Chinese books and learning materials.
Online Chinese Bookstores that sell both simplified and traditional Chinese books
1. Amazon
- Website: amazon.com
- Content: Amazon is the most convenient retailer with the option of Prime 2-day shipping. However, they have a limited selection of Chinese books, movies, & music outside of China. 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.
- Website language: Varies by country
2. China Sprout
- Website: chinasprout.com
- Content: China Sprout is a US-based online Chinese store with large selection of books, movies, & music. Toys, stickers, clothing, & other cultural items are also available.
- Website language: English
3. Chinese Books for Children
- Website: chinesebooksforchildren.com
- Content: Chinese Books for Children is a US-based online Chinese bookstore with many books in simplified and traditional Chinese
- Product language: Simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Pinyin, Zhuyin, English
- Website language: English
4. Yes Asia
- Website: yesasia.com
- Content: International online store for Asian entertainment products
- Website language: English, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Japanese
5. Chinese Holy Bible
- Website: chineseholybible.com
- Content: Chinese Holy Bible is an online retailer with Chinese Christian books and bibles for children and adults. The downside is that their website seems to be frequently out-of-stock of many products.
- Website language: English, traditional Chinese
Related: 12 Bible Verses on Faith and Parenting in English, Chinese, and Korean
Online Chinese bookstores for simplified Chinese books
Shops in China that ship internationally
1. JD
- Website: https://global.jd.com/
- Content: E-retailer with large selection of books, movies, & music at low prices. Toys, stickers, clothing, & other cultural items available.
- Website language: Simplified Chinese
- Pay Space Magazine has a detailed guide for navigating the website.
2. Taobao
- Website: world.taobao.com
- 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.
- Website language: Simplified Chinese
- Hong Kong Living and iMoney Malaysia have tips for shopping on Taobao.
Shops in the United States
1. Jo Jo Learning
- Website: jojolearning.com
- 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.
- Website Language: English
3. Timesbook
- Website: timesbook.com
- Content: US-based online Chinese bookstore with a vast selection of Chinese books for all ages
- Website language: Simplified Chinese
Shops in Singapore and Malaysia
1. Odonata Publishing Sdn Bhd (红蜻蜓出版有限司公)
- Website: odonatabooks.com
- Content: Malaysian-based online Chinese bookstore with a large collection of picture books, Chinese comics, textbooks and more for all ages
- Website language: English, Simplified Chinese
2. My Story Treasury
- Website: mystorytreasury.com
- Content: My Story Treasury is a Singaporean bookstore with simplified Chinese books for young children
- Website language: English
3. Flip For Joy (乐翻天)
- Website: flipforjoy.com.sg
- Content: Flip For Joy is a Singaporean bookstore with simplified Chinese books for young children
- Website language: English
4. Read With Me Mommy
- Website: readwithmemommy.com
- Content: Read with Me Mommy is a Singaporean bookstore with simplified Chinese books for all ages
- Website language: English
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 for traditional Chinese books
Shops in Taiwan and Hong Kong that ship internationally
1. Books.com.tw
- Website: books.com.tw
- Content: Taiwan’s largest internet retailer. Vast selection of books, movies, & music. Toys, sticks, clothing, & other cultural items available.
- Website language: Traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, English (Change language at top right corner of website by clicking on the world icon)
2. Seeds Hong Kong
- Website: seeds.com.hk
- Content: Hong Kong-based online retailer with books, toys, games; ships internationally
- Website language: Traditional Chinese
Shops in the United States
1. Stream of Praise
- Website: store.sop.org
- Content: Chinese Christian music CDs, DVDs, Chinese Christian sound books, clothing, and accessories
- Website language: English, Traditional Chinese
2. Gloria’s Bookstore
- Website: glorias-bookstore.com
- Content: Gloria’s Bookstore is a US-based online Chinese bookstore with large selection of children’s books
- Website language: Traditional Chinese, some English
3. Yo! Baby Shop
- Website: yobabyshop.com
- Content: United States-based store with Chinese books, furniture, clothing, and accessories
- Website language: English, Traditional Chinese
4. Ciaohu
- Website: ciaohu.com
- 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.
- Website language: Traditional Chinese
Related: 巧虎 (Qiaohu / Ciaohu) Review of Chinese Show and Workbooks for Kids
Shops in Canada
1. Little Kozzi
- Website: https://kozzi.ca/
- Content: Canadian-based store with Chinese books and flashcards
- Website language: English, Traditional Chinese
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 Chinese bookstores?
Please share in the comments so that other parents can explore the recommendations!
Chinese book recommendations for children
- Our favorite Chinese books for children
- Free Chinese Stories for Kids
- Chinese Audiobooks and Books with CDs
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.