Shop in China – Where Should You Shop and What Products to Buy?
Without a thought, this would be one of the top 3 questions people asked me, no matter where they were going. Where to shop in China and and what to buy?
Okay, so maybe two questions but they go together, right? I mean, there is such diversity of goods to buy in China, but China is also the number 1 country in the world for selling counterfeit goods and plenty of scams (see my article), so you have to be careful, too.
It is a known and well-recognized fact that if you are travelling to a different country, you will come back with a lot of shopping. You will be shopping for your family and your friends back home and also for your own self. This means that a majority of your time will be spent in shopping malls and stores.
I have put together a brief guide in this post to help you become one of the most well informed shoppers in all of China. To start, you should always know what you want to buy, what you have in mind and where you are going to get it.
In a country like China, you can face many difficulties if you end up getting lost, lose your money or end up at the wrong places.
You need to be very well informed about how you can save time and money while shopping for all the things that you need. As a traveller coming to China, you find many things in China to be strange, but here is a very comprehensive list of all the places you can go to and all the things that you can buy when you are travelling in China.
You should also know what skills you need to possess and what steps you need to take whenever you are shopping on your own in China:
- Shop in China – You need to know how to haggle and bargain with the shopkeeper!
- This is difficult for many people to grasp for some reason, that almost, except food really, anything you buy from a vendor can be bargained for. Don’t be afraid to push the price down even 50-70% of what was originally asked. I know, sometimes it seems you’re haggling over pennies, which you are, but it is part of the “game.”
- This reminds me once when I was visiting Beijing with my dad and brother and we went shopping in there flee market. Saw this awesome tie with dark navy blue and crimson red stripes going down vertically. Starting price was 70RMB, which back then was some 10 USD. After haggling for a few min, ended up being 35RMB or around 5 bucks. Laughed the whole time, cause at the end it was over a couple of cents. It can be fun!
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When you shop in China How do you know when you’ve gone too low? The shopkeeper will turn and walk away from you or he will let you leave his stall.
If there is one thing that you need to know about shopping in China, it is the art of haggling or bargaining with the shopkeepers. I can’t tell you how many times this has helped me get a good deal!
- Shop in China – What to Buy
There are a number of great things that you can bring back from China and here is a list of all the things that you can choose from and many more! I will be posting articles of thing to look for depending upon which city you’re going too:
- Silk slippers make unique gifts
- Beijing Opera Masks can be a treat for your friends and family at home.
- Name, stamp carving shops where you can get your name embossed or carved on different day-to-day things that you use around the house or at work.
- You can also purchase large jade carvings which are extremely beautiful.
- Freshwater and sea pearls can be a rare and beautiful find.
- Silk pajamas for children
- Chinese tea is a great idea because the Chinese culture (the Asian culture to be exact) is very much concentrated around different types of tea. In fact, tea is served with almost every meal and even between meals. Be sure to check back for my extensive articles on tea!
- Different Chinese musical instruments that you can enjoy back home.
- Chinese zodiac signs in jade
- Ornamental tassels
- And more!
- Shop in China – Where do you need to go?
You can go to a number of places such as:
- The Dong Tai Road Antique Market
- Hong Qiao New World Pearl Market
- Shanghai Longhua Fashion and Gift Market
- Shanghai South Bund Fabric Market
- Pearl’s Circles
- Lowu Market
As mentioned, when you shop in China, be careful for counterfeits. But if you want a world leading Rolex copy, then China is the best place to get it!
I plan on writing about each city and what each city has to offer on things to buy so be sure to check back soon!
Enjoy!