e-books in China

[bottledpoetry]

Happy (almost) holidays everyone!

 

I lived in Shanghai two years ago and will be relocating back soon. I remember that getting books was a pain, my Kindle purchases didn't download properly due to the great firewall. I'm curious: does Kindle work in China now? If not, how do you get your hands on new reading material?

 

I am thinking of joining Oysterbooks.com (a monthly subscription service for "all-you-can-read" e-books; think Spotify for books) but I'm not sure if the website will work in China.

 

I'd love to hear about your workarounds and solutions.

 

Thanks again! This is the best forum (always so helpful!) and I appreciate all the advice you've given me collectively in the past.

[AdamD]

For English books or Chinese books?
 
Kindles are around in China now. I don't know how purchases work territorially, or what English language stuff or foreign purchases are available inside the firewall.
 
I've been using Douban recently for Chinese stuff. It seems to be pretty good.

[bottledpoetry]

For English books

[MarsBlackman]

I use my Kindle regularly in China and have not encountered any problems when purchasing books from the US Amazon store.

 

I have heard you can switch between Amazon stores (US, UK, China, France, etc) on your kindle so you can download local books. Although you're technically changing the account that your Kindle is registered to, the books physically stay on your Kindle when you make the change. This may be advantageous for you if you want to download Chinese language books from the China Amazon store.

 

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdPage=1&cdThread=Tx3NY4SD830WRFW 

[bottledpoetry]

hmm I will have to research this option to switch between the different Amazon stores. Thanks guys! It's good to know that Kindle works in China now.

[ChTTay]

I've never had problems downloading kindle books in China over the last 3 years (1 year Yinchuan, 2 years Beijing). I use the UK store.

 

This includes buying directly from my kindle and also buying via amazon.co.uk on a computer.

[Basil]

Is it just me, or does the Apple ibooks store not work in China?

[roddy]

We've been discussing store-swopping here. It's definitely possible, but realmayo hit some undefined problem. But that answer to your basic 'does Kindle work in China' question looks to be a yes.