Shopping In China| 6 min read

China is an outdoor society where people obviously like interpersonal interactions like bargaining, furthermore working hours in China are long as Chinese people never get tired of work in hope of making more money.

In Beijing, you can find both Western-style fixed-price shopping malls and Chinese markets where the final price is dependent upon your bargaining skills.

In terms of clothing, the stylish, Oriental clothing in lush silk and contemporary cuts are popular with locals as well as tourists. You can make dresses, suits, shirts that can be tailored in 1 or 2 days (Yashow market, Silk street).

Places to shop:

• Chinese markets: these offer you anything you can imagine with different floors selling different goodies. Fabulous bags of every description, silk, accessories, well-known clothing brands (although these may not be the genuine article), pearls, semi-precious stones, jewellery, watches, antiques and handicraft are just some of the things you will come across. At these tourist friendly markets (Silk street, Pearl Market, Yashow market etc.) everyone speaks English and the prices reflect their skills, so bargaining is obliged!

• Pedestrian street: Wangfujing is the most famous commercial street in the city centre of Beijing. It has close proximity to Xidan and Tiananmen Square. It is a great place to walk around as cars are prohibited from driving through the street. You can find a mixture of department stores, branded shops, and Chinese Old Trademark shops with historical prominence (known as “lao zi hao”). Many of these stores have a history of well over 400 years. At Wangfujing, you can find many of the most well-known lao zi hao stores including restaurant for eating Peking duck (Quanjude), for dumpling (Goubuli), tea houses (Zhangyi Yuan), hats and traditional Chinese clothing stores etc. There are also 2 snack streets selling an assortment of local snacks and bizarre delicacies!
• Local fashion: If you want to see where the Chinese youths do their shopping, you can go to Xidan, a busy commercial district which has many malls selling clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery etc. It will be an unforgettable experience for sure!

Beijing is a segregated place with its high concentration of particular business areas and social niches in specific districts. If you know what kind of product or service you are looking for, you will be able to find a whole district that offers the same products or services at thousands of suppliers. Just imagine yourself getting off a bus and all the big malls and little retail stores are only selling cookware, eyewear or every single store of an area are hairdressers.

• Electronics: Zhongguancun is by far the busiest area for selling electronic items. There are a lot of electronic malls in the area and if you plan to scour for the cheapest deal, you need to set aside 2 days to get around all the places. From digital cameras, laptops, electronic dictionaries, hard drives, printers, cellphones, flash drives etc they have it all. Take note that vendors in the area are really aggressive. They might grab you into their store or shout at your face to get your attention.
• For tea lovers: Maliandao Tea Market is a must-visit place. Though it’s essentially a hub for wholesale buyers, anyone is welcome to browse among the hundreds of varieties – including green, oolong, jasmine, pu-erh, and “iron Buddha” tea which are sold in loose-leaf form or in round, pressed patties. Many of the shops also sell teapots, tea sets, tea infusers, and the like. Just be sure to bring a Chinese-speaking guide with you if you plan to do some real shopping as precious little English is spoken here.
• Antiques: You can go to the Panjiayuan flea market (“Ghost market”) as early as 4am. It is known as the “ghost market” because during the Qing Dynasty, when China was a weak nation, many government officials and celebrities resorted to selling their antiques on the market due to difficult financial landscape. They felt embarrassed to having to sell these treasures that they would only sell off their antiques by lantern light before sunrise. You can find beautiful items of each period of Chinese culture all in one place: small antiques, calligraphies, jades, jewellery, Oriental or Buddhist handicrafts, antique furniture, tea sets, classical music instruments, ethnic clothing etc. Amongst the throngs of vendors, you may be able to find small true treasures laid out on the concrete flooring often collecting dust, which can be bought for a reasonable price. The greatest deals are found around the perimeter of the dust area.
• Art lovers can also check out Liulichang, a unique atmosphere of Chinese art and culture which occupies both sides of a narrow street that has been carefully restored to its Ming-era grandeur. Its classical architecture, in modern Beijing, is as much of an attraction as the art and antiques shops themselves. Artists often come here for the wide selection of brushes, paper, and ink stones.

China like many of the other Asian countries loves a bargain! China houses large international brands to large fake brands. Especially in Beijing, and larger cities around China, the large shopping complexes play host to real international brands. Mind you they also house the real international prices!

However, if you are the type who likes the game of barter, to get the best possible price for items you don’t necessarily need, the markets are the place for you! Beijing alone has over 5 large shopping mall sized market complexes, all multiple levels, with all different items to sell genuine fake products, with the genuine fake prices! Some say, it is an insult NOT to bargain!

The thrill of lowering the price nearly 80% and walking away with an item which is obviously a fake, with the wrong spelling brand, and even angled stitching at times; becomes addictive and makes you want MORE! Mind you not all the market items sound as bad as this. Some items are actually pretty good, but just be prepared for the seagull effect of attention grabbing calls when entering markets in China!