Bibliophiles in east China's Suzhou City have a welcome new addition to the retail landscape after Taiwanese Eslite Bookstore on Sunday opened its first mainland store. The flagship four-story shop is on the banks of Jinji Lake in Suzhou. In addition to its collection of over 500,000 books, it also sells handicrafts, jewelry and kitchen ware. The open-all-hours bookstore is a popular destination in Taiwan for mainland travellers. Robert Wu, founder and chair of Eslite, said the store was a fine example of cross-Strait cultural exchange. The bookstore also has a cooking studio, a visual lab, a tea house and a lecture room. The shop features a special section for local books and artwork. Eslite was established in Taipei in 1989 with a focus on art and humanities publications. It has 43 branches in Taiwan. (Cihan/Xinhua)
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