EVERY November, Shenzhen’s Reading Month initiative turns the entire city into a vast, open-air library. But behind the month-long celebration lies something more remarkable: a reading network so extensive, so accessible and so thoughtfully designed that it has quietly become part of the city’s DNA. From round-the-clock self-service libraries to a book metropolis that claims the title of the world’s largest physical bookstore, here is a guide to the landmark reading facilities that make Shenzhen a true “City of Libraries.”

A city wired for reading

Shenzhen operates 1,227 unified library service points, all free to the public, forming a dense network that stretches from the municipal library down to community-level branches. Twenty-six self-service libraries stay open 24 hours a day, their lights never going out. Seven major Book City stores stand as cultural anchors, complemented by nearly 200 physical bookstores and more than 100 park reading bars scattered throughout the city’s green spaces.

Reading corners have even found their way into unexpected places: community centers, shopping malls and the cooling zones of certain Metro stations. Most remarkably, library branches and “study rooms” across districts offer 24-hour free reading areas, meaning that even in the dead of night, you can still make a date with a book.

Landmark reading spaces worth the journey

‘Eyes of the GBA’

Located in Qianhai, “Eyes of the GBA” — which got its name because two of its huge circular viewing structures look like of a pair of giant eyes — is the world’s largest physical bookstore and, thanks to its position within a 20-minute transport circle of the airport and port, the cultural living room of the entire Greater Bay Area. Its 66,000-square-meter site and 131,000 square meters of floor space hold nearly 100,000 titles and more than 300,000 selected books, while three themed spaces — Art Garden, Kaleidoscope of Humanities and Happy Meta — welcome readers of all ages.

Metro: Line 5 to Baohua Station (宝华站), Exit A1

Longhua Library (Luhu site)

One of four halls in Luhu Art Center — Asia’s largest earth-sheltered cultural complex — the new Longhua Library draws on “reading in the woods,” its staggered columns forming a forest of knowledge. Across 32,400 square meters, it offers 1,800 reading seats and a collection of 1.1 million volumes, with thoughtful zoning — picture-book library, teen study area, senior readers’ section, City Memory Hall and foreign-language zone — ensuring every reader finds their ideal corner.

Metro: Line 4 to Guanlan Station (观澜站), Exit E; then transfer to Longhua Tram Line 1 to Dabutou Station (大布头站)

Shenzhen Library North

This 72,000-square-meter facility turns reading into a ritual with a 48-meter atrium and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Here, the country’s largest underground automated book storage and retrieval system — known as the “magic book vault” — uses stacker cranes and rail vehicles to retrieve books. The system delivers requested books in about 10 minutes.

Metro: Line 4 or 6 to Hongshan Station (红山站), Exit A1

Shenzhen Book City CBD Store

On Futian’s central axis between Lianhua Hill and the Civic Center, this 82,000-square-meter complex is the flagship of Shenzhen Book City, a year-round host of author events and the main venue of Reading Month — the city’s veritable cultural living room.

Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit E

Bao’an Library

This silver-gray “library on the water” casts a serene reflection outside, while inside a soaring atrium, natural wood and slanted lighting grids let light and shadow drift across the floor — a perfect spot to lean by the window with a book.

Metro: Line 11 to Bao’an Station (宝安站), Exit C

Baixing Study

This four-story complex in Futian District blends reading, study, art and coffee, with 150 seats and free 24-hour access — alongside silent zones, an art gallery and an interactive screening area.

Metro: Line 9 to Hongling South Station (红岭南站), Exit A

Hongyi Pavilion

The fifth Nanshan Study venue, this 650-square-meter retreat in Lixiang Park offers free borrowing and study among 16,000 books, with immersive reading zones, a parent-child space and the Lixiang Lecture Hall — all wrapped in lychee groves.

Metro: Line 12 to Nantou Ancient City Station (南头古城站), Exit A(Tang Li)