購物中心 / 购物中心
gòuwù zhòngxīn
Mall in Chinese is 購物中心 / 购物中心 (gòuwù zhòngxīn), literally a shopping center. In daily conversation people also say 商場 / 商场 (shāngchǎng). If unsure, use 購物中心 / 购物中心.
Meaning: enclosed shopping centre (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 購物中心 / 购物中心 | gòuwù zhòngxīn |
| 商場 / 商场 | shāngchǎng |
What does it mean word for word?
購物中心 is made of 購物, shopping and 中心, center. 商場 is made of 商, business or commerce and 場, place or venue.
Which one should you use?
購物中心 is the more formal and descriptive term, while 商場 is the shorter, more common word in daily conversation for a mall or a large commercial shopping area.
Did you know?
- In modern Chinese cities, some malls are so large they are described as 城 ('chéng'), meaning 'city', creating a 'city within a city' concept where people spend entire days without leaving the building.
- In mainland China, many people refer to the 'mall' experience using the term 逛街, which literally means 'strolling the street' regardless of whether they are indoors or outdoors.
- While 商場 / 商场 refers to a mall, the character 商 was originally a pictograph of a merchant's trading activities and also identifies the 'Shang' dynasty, the earliest recorded dynasty in Chinese history.
Examples in context
- 今晚让我们一起去商场购物吧。Let's go shopping together at the mall tonight.
- 我们一起去商城逛逛吧！Let's go to the mall and stroll around together!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “mall” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
