Facade of the Eslite bookstore in Suzhou. [Photo/IC]

Taiwan's reputable Eslite bookstore opened its first mainland branch in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, on Sunday.

Covering 56,000 square meters on the bank of Jinji Lake in Suzhou, the four-story bookstore offers roughly 500,000 volumes in traditional and simplified Chinese characters, as well as in foreign languages, from more than 2,000 publishing houses worldwide. Besides that, it sells handicrafts, jewelry and kitchen ware.