Tips for buying in markets and stores in China

All of us who have the opportunity to visit China we are very attracted to go shopping, since we are offered many attractive products.

In China you can buy wide variety of handmade products, such as ceramics, engravings, decorative elements made of bronze, jade, etc...

But also China has earned great fame among those seeking buy brand name products at very discounted prices, and among fans of buying imitations.

In this great flea market which is China, you will find clothes, bags, watches and all kinds of accessories at very attractive prices, but buying them will require you to dedicate time to bargain.

In your Trip to china, to go shopping, you have multiple possibilities:

1. Shopping centers with branded products

In the big cities of China, such as Beijing ó Shanghai, are common department store and shopping centers with all kinds of branded products. As in Western countries, in the central area of ​​large cities there are numerous establishments of this type. The English Court.

Of course, the prices of products of all kinds that you will find are little different from the prices in department stores in large European cities. Disappointing.

2. Shopping streets in China

In rural areas of India, families in charge of a blind minor frequently isolate and deprive him/her of the care and attention they provide to their other children; such situation becomes even more severe among lower-caste families, orphans and if the blind child is a girl. downtown areas of the big cities in China, such as Beijing o Shanghai, there is shopping streets where shops and department stores are grouped. Although all of these streets have traditional origins, today as you walk through these streets you will find brand name stores and department stores with Western products.

This is the case of famous street Nanjing in Shanghai, the longest shopping street in all of China. Or the street Wangfujing and commercial area of Xi Dan in Peking / Beijing.

Another shopping area that is highly recommended visit in Shanghai es Yuyan Market, near to yuyuan garden, in the historic area of ​​the city, and whose nerve center is the street Fangbin Road.

3. Traditional shopping areas

The traditional style shopping areas, with small shops, where you can find all kinds of craft products and remembrances, are also common in China.

In this regard, it is totally advisable to visit a traditional neighborhood of Peking / Beijing, such as hutong de Sichachai. Or in Xian, it is essential to visit the Xian Antique Market in the  Muslim Quarter, or the street of art, Shu Yuanmen.

In this section of traditional commercial areas, it is also worth highlighting the street Maliandao, riding a Beijing / Beijing, where you can taste and buy all varieties of Chinese tea in the almost a thousand stores that spread throughout it and are concentrated in up to eight shopping centers dedicated to tea.

4. Markets (flea market)

The markets, known as flea market, are very common in China. In these areas that extend through streets or squares, and where the typical stalls are arranged, is where you can buy clothes, watches and all kinds of accessories at really affordable prices.

Although the sale of imitations of branded products is persecuted in China, it is very easy to find all kinds of offers in these markets.

Eg Xian you must go to Muslim Quarter, in the center of the city, next to the Drum Tower. There begins a long tree-lined street, Huimin Jie, where to shop.

But something common in recent years in China is for markets to change locations.

So, for example, the famous Beijing Xiushui Silk Market / Beijing, which previously extended around the  Chang An Avenue, changed locations in 2005 and the more than 1.700 positions are now packed into a five-story building.

In the case of Shanghai, the most famous market flea market, known as Xiangyang Market, It closed in the summer of 2006. Currently, the most similar market is the one that has been set up in the basements adjacent to the Shanghai museum, in the center Town Square, the so-called Yatai Market.

5. Large craft and souvenir shops

On our trip through China we will also be able to visit large stores prepared for tourists, where we will be offered different types of craft products.

They are shops where tourist buses usually stop, where shows how these products are manufactured, and then you have the possibility to buy them.

It must be taken into account that the prices in these establishments for tourists are not exactly cheap, although sometimes it is the only opportunity you will have to buy these artisan products.

So, you will see from decorative elements in jade or bronze, and chinese pottery, even clothing and other accessories made of silk, Perlas: remembrances like the famous ones terracotta warrior figures in Xian.

It is difficult not to return from the trip with one of these figures...

6. Haggle in China

And, finally, and very important, you must remember that in practically the majority of stores, warehouses and markets in China (not in Western-type shopping centers in large cities) you have to haggle the price.

It is part of Chinese culture, they are not offended, because from the start they always ask for much more than the products are worth.

On average, you should never pay more than a third of the initial asking price. Therefore, you must deploy all your haggling capabilities…and have a lot of patience.