Must-see shopping in China

  • K11 Select

    Kowloon

    In the K11 mall, this shop – like a mini department store – is a funky destination for clothing and accessories, much of it by Hong Kong designers. Matter…

  • 10 Corso Como

    Shanghai

    The first China branch of this glamorous Milan boutique incorporates the same model of 'slow shopping'. Over five floors there's a mix of men's and women…

  • Eslite

    Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island

    You could waste hours inside this swanky three-floor Taiwanese bookshop, which features a massive collection of English and Chinese books and magazines, a…

  • Cool ThingzZ & Portuguese Spot

    Macau

    Portuguese products in Macau are booming these days, and this bright and welcoming shop stocks wines, olive oil, sweets and canned seafood. Or if you're…

  • Edit x Editecture

    Aberdeen & South Hong Kong Island

    This large office-shop-showroom belongs to two friends who have won awards designing everything from restaurants to clothes. The highlight here is the…

  • Apliu Street Flea Market

    Kowloon

    A geek’s heaven, this grungy flea market specialises in all things digital and electronic. The market spills over into Pei Ho St.

  • Jingdezhen Porcelain Artware

    Shanghai

    This is one of the best places for high-quality traditional Chinese porcelain. Blue-and-white vases, plates, teapots and cups are some of the many choices…

  • New Year Paintings Gallery

    Tianjin

    The former canal-side market town of Yangliuqing is famous throughout China for producing Chinese New Year block-printed paintings that people hang in…

  • Slow Lane

    Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central

    Such lovingly curated shelves! If only Beijing had more alleyway boutiques like this. Slow Lane tempts with Tibetan yak-wool blankets, ceramic teaware…

  • Rise Shopping Arcade

    Kowloon

    Bursting the seams of this minimall is cheap streetwear from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, with a few knock-offs chucked in for good measure. Patience and a…

  • Pedestrian browses through a window at the Sogo Shopping Centre in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

    Sogo

    Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island

    The range is mind-boggling at this Japanese-owned department store, with 17 floors of high-end fashion and accessories, cosmetics, homewares and much more…

  • Hongqiao Pearl Market

    Temple of Heaven Park & Dongcheng South

    Occupying a swish, purpose-built mall beside the Temple of Heaven's east gate, the Pearl Market is palpably less hectic than the more famous Silk Street,…

  • Shoppers amidst high-rise buildings at Island Beverley intersection, Causeway Bay.

    Island Beverly Mall

    Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island

    Crammed into cubicles, up escalators and in the back lanes of this unassuming mall next to Sogo are microshops selling local designer threads, garments,…

  • Interior of Arch Angel Antiques at Central 53-55 Hollywood Road, Hong Kong

    Arch Angel Antiques

    Hong Kong

    Though the specialities are ancient porcelain and tombware, Arch Angel packs a lot more into its two floors: it has everything from old ink drawings and…

  • Ruifuxiang Silk

    Beijing

    Squint at the historical facade of Ruifuxiang, East China's esteemed silk-clothing merchants, trading here since 1893, and you can almost imagine late…

  • Silk Street

    Beijing

    A mandatory tour-group stop, this six-storey temple of retail contains acres of clothing, shoes, handbags and electronics – much of it counterfeit and of…

  • AP Xinyang Fashion & Gifts Market

    Shanghai

    This mammoth underground market by the Science & Technology Museum metro station is Shanghai’s largest collection of shopping stalls. There are tonnes of…

  • Taikoo Li Sanlitun

    Beijing

    Beijing's premier destination for haute couture and urbane dining, Taikoo Li is where the fashionistas go to splash the cash. An open-air mall complex…

  • Huaqiang Bei Commercial St

    Shenzhen

    A sizeable chunk of Shenzhen's prosperity can be traced to this vast cottage industry of tech that stretches across city blocks. Mall after mall selling…

  • Chan Wah Kee Cutlery Store

    Kowloon

    At this humble shop, octogenarian Mr Chan, one of Asia's few remaining master knife-sharpeners, uses nine different stones to grind each blade, and…

  • Aura A Space & Akimbo Cafe Lab

    Shanghai

    Half–indie fashion store and half–minimalist cafe serving single-origin brews, this is an extremely cool space to hang out in and the price tag is…

  • Hangzhou Silk City

    Hangzhou

    Hangzhou is famous for its silks and there are certainly bargains to be found in this seven-storey market. You'll have to work hard to get them, though…

  • Wushan Lu Night Market

    Hangzhou

    Wushan Lu Night Market doesn't have too much to offer by way of interesting souvenirs, but it's still a pleasant place to stroll for half an hour or so…

  • Wah Fung Chinese Goods Centre

    Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island

    This very local Chinese department store has everything from ginseng to silk baby slippers and acupuncture models to calligraphy brushes. Crowded, dusty…

  • Chouchou Chic

    French Concession

    French-Chinese hybrid Chouchou Chic sells kids’ clothes (up to age eight) that are infinitely cuter than what you find at the souvenir stalls. Most of the…

  • WF Central

    Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central

    After decades of charmless development, this 2018 luxury shopping mall is at least trying to restore a little lost glamour to Wangfujing, once lined with…

  • D.Art

    French Concession

    This charming gallery and shop behind a gate is too easy to miss, but deserves to be found. D.Art packs colourful prints depicting rural Chinese life into…

  • Xiaomi Home

    Beijing

    The downtown Beijing flagship of innovative Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi (sometimes called China's Apple). Browse low-price designer tech such as…

  • Urban Tribe

    French Concession

    Urban Tribe is the only contemporary Shanghai label to draw inspiration from the ethnic groups of China and Southeast Asia. The collection of loose…

  • Kevin Cheung

    Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island

    Product designer Kevin Cheung's workshop is also his home, occupying a lovely heritage unit in Wan Chai's Blue House cluster. Cheung collects Hong Kong…

  • Librarie Avant-Garde

    Anhui

    An unlikely bookshop in an unlikely place, this is the Bishan branch of the stupendous Nanjing bookshop, Librarie Avant-Garde, coaxed into existence by a…

  • Amylin’s Pearls

    Shanghai

    Amylin's is the most reliable retailer of pearls of all colours and sizes. It's been touting its wears since 1993 in the most unlikely location – a pearl-…

  • Ancient Culture Street

    Tianjin

    Ancient Culture Street is stuffed with vendors flogging Chinese calligraphy, paintings, tea sets, paper cuts, clay figurines, chops and goods from all…

  • Joyce Warehouse

    Aberdeen & South Hong Kong Island

    Off-season items at Joyce's urban branches come to this warehouse outlet where they're sold at a discount of at least 20%. You'll find Ann Demeulemeester,…

  • Zhenchalin Tea

    French Concession

    From the entrance, this looks like just another tea shop, but poke around inside and you’ll find specially blended herbal teas from Ayako, a traditional…

  • Neiliansheng Shoe Shop

    Beijing

    Treat your feet to a pair of hand-stitched cloth shoes from this time-honoured Beijing shop dating back to 1853. From the plain slip-ons favoured by…

  • Candle Company

    Hong Kong

    The flagship store for Hong Kong's Carroll & Chan brand of candles and diffusers sells gift-worthy products like ecofriendly beeswax candles, paper lotus…

  • Armoury

    Hong Kong

    The Armoury can help any man look like a dapper gentleman – the elegant shop is a specialist in refined menswear sourced globally. You can choose from…

  • Madame Mao’s Dowry

    French Concession

    What better way to brighten up your hall than with a poster of jubilant socialist workers? Madame Mao's Dowry has an emphasis on design during the Mao era…

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