Oriental Culture Enterprises Co

I went with my boyfriend to buy simple children’s books that can help him with reading Chinese characters. Oriental Culture Enterprises Co carries a good selection of Chinese books however they are all in traditional Chinese, but we are only looking for simplified Chinese books. Disappointed :(

I had my 2 hour surfing through the books in this store. I must admit that the variety of books they have is quite big. For me it was very important to find big amount of chinese learning books. After checking other prominent bookstore, only this store satisfied me in terms of choice. I managed to find the books I needed but one of them supposed to have also CDs and they were lacking. I asked the store vendor to help me ordering one version with CDs but she just said that they don’t have it.

I went to this store specifically for writing supplies — ink, brushes and rice paper. They had a good selection of basic brushes, reasonably priced ink and simple pads of rice paper both plain and with guides. I first went to look at the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya in Midtown. While I did purchase some basic supplies at this store, the variety and quality were superior at Kinokiniya. If you are a beginner learning sumi-​e, the supplies at this store are good to start with.
Beyond the calligraphy supplies, many of the books appeared to be dusty. This bookstore doesn’t look like it’s been updated in 30 years but I suppose that’s what makes mom-​and-​pop businesses so charming.

I always enjoy coming here as my resource for Chinese calligraphy brush and Mandarin language books at moderate prices. Recent 2013 visit did not enable me to seek a refill of my ink stone but I was able to attain a new goat calligraphy brush at $ 3.00 to further enhance the «Four Treasures of the Studio» in the Chinese written language. Staff are able to converse fluently in both Cantonese and Mandarin.

This place used to be the go-​to bookstore in Chinatown. Now people, even the Chinese have turned to electronic periodicals, smartphones and e-​readers instead of paper to print books. Sigh. The shop used to be filled with customers and families. They still carry multitude of study aids for adults and kids but a lot of their other products don’t seem to have much movement. Some items are dusty and dated. They custom make stone engraved stamps. Chinese stationary supplies like ink, brushes, calligraphy paper and notebooks are available.

In addition to taking the stairs to get to the bookstore (which I think that another Unilocaler describes in her review), when you enter this shopping complex on Elizabeth Street (13 – 17 Elizabeth St), you can take one of the elevators to bookstore on the second floor. If you get in the wrong elevator (like I did), you’ll see a sign that says that you can’t use that elevator to get to the OCE bookstore. The elevator also will not stop at the second floor, even if you press the second floor button. I ended up taking the elevator to the 6^th floor, walking down the hallway and taking the other elevator to the second floor.
I was torn btwn giving this place a 4 or a 5. I would give it a 4 ½ or maybe a 4 ¾. You can wander around and browse the books without being accosted or harassed which, to me, is the best part of the best bookstores. There are a ton of great books here in both Chinese and English. I also saw a few books for studying korean and japanese. When I was there, I even saw a learn-​Spanish-​language book that was in Chinese.
I saw origami papers, calligraphy materials, ping pong paddles — I’m not sure if they always have ping pong paddles or if that is a seasonal/​sometimes available thing.
I was a little nervous to go here b/​c my Chinese is shoddy at best. But, it was definitely a wonderful bookstore. i highly recommend.

This is another of my mandatory haunts while visiting Manhatten & Chinatown. A great selection of Chinese reading material. For me, the Chinese language materials section is what I make a beeline for. There simply is nothing like the wide selection of materials available here anywhere close to my neck of the woods (Washington DC), and at good prices too. I was also pleased to find Chinese scrolls and watercolors available. I ditto other reviewers comments on selection. Staff have always been warm and welcoming to me.

Well this is my idea of a Chinese bookstore. This place has been around for a veeerrrry long time. Since I was a kid really. I still have vague memories of this place opening up. They use to have a bag check, but that was years ago.
As you walk to the second floor next to the Elizabeth Center Mall and a school. You enter this small store, and to your right is a separate room that is filled with items for discounted prices. To your right and maybe a bit on the left is Chinese music and DVDs.
As you walked toward the back you see rows of books, with some English/​books relevant to Chinatown and language learning nearby. There are romances cookbooks, non-​fiction, history, wuxia relevant books.
Toward the back are the writing supplies. for my practice books I come and purchase a bunch of blank writing books to practice Chinese or Japanese with. I also have to say that I love a type of eraser that this place sells. Hmm you would have to be here to actually realize more about this spot.

At first glance this seems like just another Chinatown bookstore, but they have easily the best collection of Chinese-​English dictionaries I’ve seen in this or any other city outside of China; for my work (which involves extensive use of Chinese) they’re an absolute godsend. If you’re learning Mandarin and are disappointed the tiny selection of Chinese dictionaries at Barnes & Noble then come here and prepare to be dazzled.