購物中心 / 购物中心
gòuwù zhòngxīn
Shopping centre in Mandarin is 購物中心 / 购物中心 (gòuwù zhòngxīn). If unsure, use 購物中心 / 购物中心. Wiktionary also lists 商場 / 商场 (shāngchǎng) and 購物城 / 购物城 (gòuwùchéng).
Meaning: large retail outlet (noun)
Ways to say it
| Mandarin | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 購物中心 / 购物中心 | gòuwù zhòngxīn |
| 商場 / 商场 | shāngchǎng |
| 購物城 / 购物城 | gòuwùchéng |
购物中心 is the more formal term for a shopping centre. In daily conversation people are more likely to say they are going to the mall with 商场, as in 去商場.
What does it mean word for word?
購物 means shopping and 中心 means centre. In 商場, 商 means business or commerce and 場 means a place or market.
Which one should you use?
商場 / 商场 (shāngchǎng) is the more common and slightly more general term for a shopping mall or a large department store. 購物城 / 购物城 (gòuwùchéng) uses the character for city and suggests a very large commercial complex. 百货商场 specifically means a department store.
Is it said differently in some regions?
Each form is written in two ways. The first, as in 購物中心, uses traditional characters and the second, as in 购物中心, uses simplified characters.
How do you pronounce it?
Say it as gòuwù zhòngxīn.
Did you know?
- The term 商場 can be used metaphorically beyond physical buildings to describe the 'marketplace' of politics or life, where people compete for power.
- The character 場 in 商場 originally referred to a flat piece of ground for threshing grain, reflecting how early markets were simply open spaces.
- If you visit a 百货商场, you will find that the word 百货 literally translates to 'hundred goods', implying a place that sells everything imaginable.
Examples in context
- 在周末，我们通常会去附近的购物中心逛逛。On weekends, we usually go to the nearby shopping centre for a stroll.
- 明天，我打算去商场买一些衣服。Tomorrow, I plan to go to the mall to buy some clothes.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “shopping centre” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
