There are several big bookstores in Shenzhen, each with a variety of foreign language books. Books are much cheaper in China. Especially if you want to buy some Computer Science books, it is very worthwhile to look around. I bought many different computer books about UML, Design Patterns, Data Structures, Data Mining, C++ and so on. Where such books would easily cost 60 euro in the Netherlands, here they will cost 60 yuan, so about 1/10 of the price.

Besides computer books, there are generally also some classic novels in each store and various books to learn Chinese. In some stores you will even find some Japanese, Korean, French or German books.

Here are the addresses of the main bookstores in Shenzhen:

Shenzhen Book City CBD store (Futian) (深圳书城中心店)

Add: Fuzhong Road 1, Futian District (福田区福中一路)

Metro: Shao Nian Gong Station (Children’s Palace 少年宫站), Exit C or D

Read more about Shenzhen Citizen's Center

Shenzhen Book City’s Luohu store (深圳书城罗湖店)

Add: 5033 Shennan Road East (深圳市深南东路5033号)

Buses: 3, 10, 29, 101, 103, 104, 113, 204, 215, 223, 302, 311 

Metro: Shenzhen Grand Theater (Da Ju Yuan Station 大剧院站), Exit C3

Inquires: 8207-3031

Shenzhen Book City Nanshan store (深圳书城南山店)

Nanshan book city in Nanshan district is a shopping area which derives it's name from the bookstore. The store sells some English books. HaiYa department store next to the bookcity offers shoes, cosmetics and clothes. There are also some restaurants around and below HaiYa there is a supermarket. The area is not very big, but my parents bought some decorative tiles for on the wall in a small shop inside the book city.  Across the road there is also a small gift market that sells some souvenirs, but not so much to my taste and quite expensive compared to a similar, but much bigger, market in Guangzhou.

Verdict

7/10. It's an OK area in Nanshan. Ther are not so many places to go anyway in Nanshan.

Add: Nanshan Commercial and Cultural Center, intersection of Nanyou Thoroughfare and Haide Road 2, Nanshan District (next to Haiya Department Store) (深圳市南山商业文化中心区南海大道与海德二道交界处, 海雅百货旁)

Tel: 8612-2001

Buses: 19, 37, 70, 80, 113, 226, 230, 232, 328, 329, K113 (Haiya Department Store stop)