(Beijing — October 25, 2025) Mainland China’s largest privately run Christian bookstore, Beijing Morning Light Bookstore, has announced that it is closing effective immediately. Sources indicate that October 27 will be the store’s last day of operation. The bookstore is currently clearing its inventory, with in-store books being sold at a 70% discount. Individuals familiar with the situation suggest that readers in Beijing and surrounding regions may visit and make purchases before the store closes.
It is understood that the bookstore has been unable to continue its operations due to government pressure.
One netizen commented, “The government’s suppression of Christian institutions seems aimed at eliminating all religious forces that do not submit to the government’s control.”
The bookstore has not only provided access to reading materials, but has also been a meaningful feature of the city itself.
Beijing Morning Light Book and Culture Communication Co., Ltd. was founded in 2004 as a non-profit organization committed to promoting Christian literature ministry in mainland China and fostering cultural exchange and development between China and other countries. Over the years, Morning Light Bookstore supported and served the establishment of a network of more than 200 bookstores nationwide, collaborated on book distribution, and regularly organized talks and training sessions on different topics such as marriage, family, and workplace. It also held themed reading groups to encourage spiritual reading, exerting broad influence in the fields of faith and cultural engagement.
Morning Light also participates in social charity work, helping to establish libraries in impoverished regions and donating tens of thousands of books to left-behind children.
Morning Light Bookstore had already faced multiple government inspections as early as 2012 and faced multiple instances where it was nearly shut down. The bookstore’s deputy general manager, Li Wenxi, was arrested by Shanxi police on charges of “illegal business operations” and was sentenced to two years in prison on May 9, 2013.
China Aid Association