What to Buy in China: Best Souvenirs, Where to Shop and What to Skip

The short version

Buy what China is known for making, and buy it where locals would.

• Best buys: tea, teaware, silk, porcelain, Chinese-brand electronics, museum gifts, regional snacks.
• Where: specialist tea and silk shops, museum shops, brand stores in malls, and the big online platforms.
• Bargain only in tourist markets. Everywhere else the price on the tag is the price.
• Skip: antiques, expensive jade, and fake designer goods.

Many travelers ask what is “cheaper than at home”. The honest rule is simple. Chinese brands and Chinese-made specialties are good value. Famous Western brands are not.

The best things to buy in China

Tea: the easiest good souvenir

Tea is light, legal to carry into most countries and far better bought in China than abroad. Match the tea to the region you visit:

A good tea market makes a pleasant half day. You sit down, the seller brews several teas and you buy the one you like. Two well-known ones are Maliandao Tea Street in Beijing and Tianshan Tea City in Shanghai. Taste before you pay, buy small amounts, and ask for vacuum packing.

One warning. A tea shop you choose is safe. A tea house a friendly stranger takes you to is a famous scam. See tourist scams in China.

Where to shop in each city

A useful fact about tourist markets: most of the lanterns, fans, magnets and trinkets sold at famous bazaars come from the same wholesale factories, and the same items sell online for much less. Go for the atmosphere and buy things you like, but do not expect them to be handmade or unique.

Electronics: what is actually cheaper

Chinese brands are the real bargains. Drones and cameras from DJI and Insta360, phones and gadgets from Xiaomi, chargers and cables, mechanical keyboards, earbuds and portable projectors are often cheaper in China, and the newest models appear here first.

Before you buy anything expensive, check:

• Warranty. Some products sold in mainland China are only covered for repair in China. Ask the store.
• Software and networks. Phones made for the Chinese market may ship without Google services, and network bands can differ from your country’s.
• Plug and voltage. China uses 220 V. Chargers usually work worldwide, but the plug may need an adapter.
• Where you buy. Use official brand stores or JD.com’s self-operated stores. Avoid unknown stalls for expensive items.
• Tax refund. At a tax-refund store you can claim about 11% back when you spend RMB 200 or more. See China tax refund for tourists.

Apple and other Western brands are generally not cheaper in mainland China.

If you buy a power bank, make sure it carries the Chinese 3C mark. Domestic flights do not accept power banks without it. See China domestic flights and power bank rules.

How bargaining really works

Most visitors expect to haggle everywhere. In modern China that is wrong.

Fixed price, do not bargain: malls, supermarkets, chain stores, brand stores, museum shops, restaurants, and anything with a printed price tag or a QR code at the till.

Bargain: tourist markets, souvenir stalls near famous sights, “fake markets”, and stalls with no prices shown.

Local residents mostly shop in stores and online, where prices are transparent. The markets where you bargain exist mainly for tourists, and their opening prices are set for tourists too. Residents say a plain market T-shirt sells online for roughly RMB 30, so an opening price of RMB 200 to 300 is a test, not a price.

How to do it:

1. Check a reference price first. Look at the same type of item in a supermarket, a chain store or online.
2. Decide what it is worth to you before you ask the price.
3. Offer a small fraction of the first price, often 10% to 30% in the most touristy markets.
4. Stay friendly. Smiling works better than arguing.
5. Walk away. If the seller calls you back, your price was possible. If not, you were too low. Either way you have learned the real range.
6. Never bargain and then refuse to buy at the price you offered.

In ordinary local markets, bargaining is gentler: a small discount for buying two, or rounding the total down.

Ordering online to your hotel

Chinese residents buy almost everything online, and visitors can too. The two main platforms are Taobao, a marketplace of independent sellers, and JD.com, which also sells directly from its own warehouses and is usually faster.

What to know before you try:

• Account and payment. You register an account and pay with Alipay linked to your foreign card. See Alipay for foreigners.
• Phone number. Some travelers register with a foreign number. Others are asked for a Chinese one. See do tourists need a Chinese phone number?
• Address. Enter your hotel’s address in Chinese, with your name as it appears on the booking. Copy it from the hotel’s confirmation.
• Delivery time. Within the same city or province, often the next day. Across the country, usually two to four days. JD.com’s self-operated stores show an estimated date.
• Timing. Order to a hotel where you will stay long enough, or to the last hotel on your route. Tell the front desk a parcel is coming.
• Returns. Look for sellers that offer seven-day returns, and flagship or official brand stores.

The apps are mostly in Chinese. Use your phone’s screenshot translation to read listings.

What not to buy, and what customs will take

• Antiques and cultural relics. Genuine old objects are tightly controlled, and valuable relics may not leave China at all. Most “antiques” in markets are reproductions sold as old. Buy them as decoration, at decoration prices, and keep the receipt. See China customs rules.
• Expensive jade and pearls. Quality is very hard to judge without training, and tourist shops rely on that. Buy only what you would be happy to own as costume jewelry.
• Fake designer goods. Customs in your home country can seize counterfeits. US Customs describes a narrow personal-use exemption of one item of each type, carried with you and not for resale, and officers can still take it. France forbids travelers from carrying counterfeit goods at all, with confiscation and possible fines.
• Ivory, tortoiseshell and other wildlife products. Illegal to export and to import almost everywhere.
• Meat and fresh food. Many countries ban meat products from abroad, including sausages and meat-filled snacks. Declare food when you land at home.
• Medicines and herbal remedies. Some traditional remedies contain ingredients restricted in other countries. Check before you buy.
• Liquids in hand luggage. Baijiu, soy sauce and chili oil go in checked bags.

Paying and packing

• Pay by phone. Most shops use Alipay or WeChat Pay. Large malls and brand stores also take foreign cards. Keep some cash for small stalls. See using foreign cards in China.
• Ask for a receipt for anything expensive. You need it for a tax refund, a warranty claim or a customs question.
• Sizes run small. Clothes and shoes are cut smaller than in Europe and North America. Try things on, or go up one or two sizes.
• Pack fragile items in clothes in your checked bag, or ask the shop for a padded box. Shops that sell teaware pack well if you ask.

Planning a shopping stop?

If shopping matters to you, tell us what you want to bring home. A good local guide takes you to a working tea market or a silk workshop instead of a tourist store with a commission. See our local guide service, or start with a free China trip plan.