Shanghai Book Traders Used Books
The Bund & People's Square
This tiny used bookstore stocks back issues of Time, Elle and Vogue, along with three walls of well-priced used English-language books, from Balzac to Dan…
Must-see shopping in China
Hong Kong
Tea-making accoutrements and carefully chosen teas of various ages and grades are available here, from gunpowder to Nanyan Ti Guan Yin Crown Grade –…
Kunming
This place offers most types of teas grown in Yunnan, including the famed pǔ’ěr tea, and there are sometimes English-speaking staff available to help…
Wan Chai & Northeast Hong Kong Island
Buy a drone, build a custom gaming PC, or repair the iPhone screen you cracked on that Lan Kwai Fong bar crawl. You can do it all and more at this…
Shanghai
This tea shop has a good collection of pǔ'ěr cakes (aged fermented tea from Yunnan), as well as loose-leaf oolong, white and herbal teas. The backroom…
Lhasa
Boasts a wide range of foodstuffs from frozen squid to ripe pineapples to a bewildering array of dried yak meat. The upper floor contains one of Lhasa's…
Shanghai
Local style mavens XinleLu.com have ventured into the offline world with this original showroom, displaying the best of their hand-picked bags, shoes and…
Kowloon
This long road is a riot of shops selling fabrics, trimmings, buttons, ribbons and other raw materials, as well as prêt-à-porter clothing. You’ll bump…
Shanghai
Always busy, this gargantuan shopping mall is also ultrahandy for its dining options, its supermarket in the basement, a kids’ arcade on the 6th floor and…
Qingdao
The city's snazziest shopping mall has all your retail cravings covered, plus an ice rink, a cinema, an indoor theme park and a rooftop garden. Right…
Kowloon
The go-to place for all things related to Asian comics and anime, the tiny stores in this mall sell everything from kidult figurines to vintage Casio…
Tianjin
Best visited on Sunday, this antiques market is great for rifling through stamps, silverware, porcelain, clocks, Mao badges and Cultural Revolution…
French Concession
The Taiwanese brand sells midrange bikes and is an option for those who don't have WePay and thus can't use the city bike scheme. Bikes start at around …
Chaozhou Opera Costumes & Props
Guangdong
Diagonally across the road from Kaiyuan Temple is this tiny shop that makes gowns, headdresses, swords, sedans and shoes for the Chaozhou opera stage.
Chengdu
This French-owned chain has a huge selection of outdoor equipment and sporting goods. It's about 10 minutes' walk south of the South train station.
French Concession
Miao embroidery from southwest China. Plus indigo-die items, jewellery from indigenous communities, bags, gifts and trinkets, and custom clothing.
Beijing
The custom-made, mid-century-style furniture at this gorgeous store won't fit in your suitcase, but the accessories, dinnerware and towels will.
Guilin
This local flea market has everything from electronics to vintage magazines, calligraphy brushes, dogs and, of course, birds and flowers.
French Concession
Little neighbourhood bike shop, selling new and secondhand models for cruising around town. It also fixes flats and does quick tune-ups.
Qingdao
A four-storey bargain bonanza north of Old Town, with pearls, clothing, shoes, backpacks, jade, wigs – all for the haggling.
French Concession
Top bottle shop, with a decent array of local and imported beers and lots of vintage whiskies.
Shanghai Old City
Having silk shirts, dresses and cashmere coats tailor-made for a song is one of Shanghai’s great indulgences. This three-storey building, one of several…
Beijing
This ever-expanding shopping mall stretches far and wide below Guomao and the China World Hotel, a gleaming maze of luxury brands, boutiques, jewellery…
Kowloon
Enclosed by looping Battery St, this covered market has hundreds of stalls selling all varieties and grades of jade. But unless you know your nephrite…
Beijing
Whether or not you're a scholar of Chinese, this enticing shop is worth a browse for its cabinets of dusty tomes on art and religion, collections of stone…
Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central
A couple of decades has dulled the sheen of this corridor-like mega-mall built in 2000 at the southern end of Wangfujing Dajie. It contains midrange and…
Beijing
An avenue of art shops, antiques and booksellers since the Qing dynasty, leafy Liulichang is a tourist favourite that's worth delving into for its…
French Concession
Heirloom’s staple is a range of vibrant, stylish and LA glam-influenced clutches, satchels and handbags, as well as sneakers and smaller accessories such…
Kowloon
This is a fun place to rummage for name chops, soapstone carvings, fans and other Chinese bric-a-brac. It’s in an alleyway between Lock and Hankow Rds,…
Beijing
Buying new spectacles probably isn't high up on your Beijing bucket list, but when you can get your eyes tested and lenses cut in about 40 minutes (for…
Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central
They used to say that a truly dignified person would only wear shoes made by Neiliansheng, silk made by Ruifuxiang and hats made by Sheng Xi Fu. First…
Beijing
Set up for wholesalers, Maliandao is a nondescript commercial district home to if not all the tea in China, then an awful lot of it. For leaf-hunters…
Beijing
Peddling pills and potions here since 1702, this traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shop became a royal dispensary during the Qing dynasty. Today the…
Beijing
So named for its yesteryear trade in pipes and the demon weed (that's tobacco, not opium), 'Tobacco Pouch Lane' is a short, crooked alley of touristy…
Beijing
This department store of traditional arts specialises in wénfáng sì bǎo (文房四宝), the 'four treasures of study', namely brushes, ink, paper and inkstones…
Beijing
Arts-and-crafts fans will get a kick out of this shop selling traditional clay figurines. Shelves are lined with 'rabbit gods' (兔儿爷; tùéryé), a folk…
