Shopping in China: Top 10 Things to Buy

When it comes to China, you will be surprised at its fast-growing development and extensive and profound culture, with a history stretching back to antiquity. China owns such a vast territory with an amazing population of over 1.4 billion that it is home to a fascinating variety of famous tourist attractions. As the process of globalization is progressing quickly, China has become more and more attractive to people from all over the world. And China seems like a hospitable friend who welcomes people worldwide to come and know the country. More and more travelers are planning to take an exciting and breathtaking trip around China.

When you come to China for the first time, don't you want to go back home with some meaningful souvenirs with Chinese features as a reminder of the unforgettable trip or a special present for important ones? But as a country home to as many as 56 different ethnic groups, China boasts unique items in large varieties, which will spoil you for choice. Here are the 10 best things to buy in China that we recommend to new visitors. Keep reading. You will find what you really desire.

JIngli Street, Chengdu

Chinese Porcelain

With a long history of over 4000 years, China is home to porcelain and has developed consummate techniques for porcelain production. As a unique form of fine traditional culture, Chinese porcelain is available in vast varieties, distinctive styles, and exquisite decoration. Porcelain was very important to the ancient Chinese, who used it to contain foods and wine. Otherwise, wealthy families kept them as house decorations or gave them as gifts to friends. Today, Chinese people still have a growing demand for porcelain.

There are four kinds of worldwide famous porcelains in China, including celadon porcelain (blue and white porcelain), rice-pattern porcelain, famille rose porcelain, and colored glaze porcelain. Celadon porcelain is one of the marks of China. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, "People would rather have a collection of Celadon porcelain than leave a case of gold." Celadon porcelain features a pure white body and a flash of blue ornamentation, plain but elegant. You may express a strong preference for it. Rice-pattern porcelain is the next. This is a kind of spectacularly beautiful porcelain when the sunlight or lamplight shines on it. There are several small holes the size of rice on its body. Rice-pattern porcelain is sweet and crystal clear. The following is Famille Rose porcelain. This porcelain is rich in color. The ornamentation is burnished and has a stereoscopic effect. You can see an amazingly showy flower on the porcelain. The final option is colored glaze porcelain. It is always colored with single shades of green or red. When you look at it from a distance, it will have a very beautiful shine.

Jingde Town is home to these four kinds of porcelain. Since the Yuan Dynasty, Jingde Town has been known for its porcelain, which is as white as polished jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, and sounds like a chime. If you want to buy Chinese porcelain, Jingde Town is the place to go. You can decorate your home by placing it wherever you want or give it to your significant others as a precious gift, whether for appreciation or use.

Chinese Tea

China has a long history of tea making and tea drinking, and it has evolved the tea ceremony, a unique form of tea culture. Thus, tea is a ritual drink in China, and it plays an important role in Chinese daily life, especially for people in the Chanshan area. If you're in the streets, parks, offices, or restaurants of China, you can see people of all ages holding a vacuum cup filled with tea. In the Chaoshan area, elder people drink tea just when they sit back.

China has many famous teas, including Longjing tea (produced near the West Lake), Biluochun tea (produced near the Dongting Lake), and Tie Guanyin (a variety of oolong tea produced in Fujian province). In China, you can try some special teas, like yellow tea, jasmine tea, oolong tea, and pu-er tea.

You can get your tea in convenience stores and supermarkets, which sell many different types of tea by the gram. If you're interested in the Chinese tea ceremony, you can also buy the serving sets for your tea. It will be a wonderful experience to drink tea that you have brewed yourself at home. What's more, you can entertain friends or guests with tea, as Chinese people do.

Zhaoping Tea Plantation, Huangyao

Silk

Silk is a hallmark of ancient Chinese culture. Silk, therefore, is one of the most famous products coming from China. If you travel in the biggest cities of China, you will see a large number of women wearing silk items of clothing everywhere.

Chinese silk is woven from mulberry silk or fiber. It enjoys a reputation for its gorgeous and quaint design, and the silk is also light, smooth, and very soft. That's why Chinese silk is appealing to people worldwide today and in the past. The common silk articles include scarves, fans, gowns, and qipao (traditional women's clothing), of which qipao is the most popular with most women.

Due to a high level of weaving technique, Chinese silk is generally quite costly, so you'd better go to silk shops or markets in person where you can select the right one for your size. Furthermore, you can have your silk product customized. Remember to check the quality. There are pillowcases, bags, and accessories that are more affordable and widely available at tourist sites. You can consult us if you have any questions. Our experienced experts will help you get silk products with higher quality and a lower price.

Painting and Calligraphy

If you travel around China, you will visit many museums, such as the Palace Museum, where you will certainly enjoy all kinds of famous ancient paintings and calligraphy works, including Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival by the painter Zhang Zeduan and Orchid Pavilion by the calligrapher Wang Xizhi. Of course, you can't buy these authentic works directly. However, galleries or pawnshops near major tourist attractions across the country sell copied paintings and calligraphy of works from various Chinese dynasties.

You can choose the content of the painting and the calligraphy font you like. For paintings, you can purchase magnificent landscape paintings, tranquil pictures of flowers and birds, or portraits of tender Chinese ladies (Shinü)l pictures of flowers and birds, or portraits of tender Chinese ladies (Shinü). As for calligraphy works, there are many different styles, like formal script, seal script, cursive script, running script, and official script. It will be recommended that you select neat, regular handwriting, vigorous and unrestrained semi-cursive handwriting, or smooth and flowing cursive handwriting.

Each work has its own feature and is favored by the people of China and the world. You can also put the Chinese writing brush on the paper and create your own calligraphy work as a souvenir. Chinese calligraphy and painting are thought to be great gifts. More than that, they can be framed, and you can hang them on the walls of the living room or bedroom, fostering an air of quaintness in your house.

Calligraphy in Chengdu Museum

Chinese Jade

If you're walking around the streets of China, observing carefully, you will find a great number of people wearing a small green item on the neck or a green bracelet on the wrist, and some women with beautiful earrings. They are wearing jade. During the trip around China, you can't ignore such an exquisite and elegant item. China's jade has the largest number of consumers in the world after gems.

Chinese jade is extremely tough, crystal clear, and graceful. A Chinese master craftsman is able to engrave a crude piece of jade into a variety of gorgeous shapes, such as images of Buddha, plants, animals, and even landscapes. Jade items include pendants, bracelets, bangles, earrings, and so on. China has four famous kinds of jade, including nephrite (produced in Hetian, Xinjiang province), lantian jade (produced in Xi'an, Shanxi province), dushan jade (produced in Nanyang, Henan province), and xiuyan jade (produced in Angsha, Liaoning province). If you show great interest in Chinese jade, you can't miss these four well-known pieces. You will be rocked by their beauty and design.

From the perspective of the Chinese, jade stands for beauty and virtue. Wearing jade can help cultivate their disposition. Furthermore, most Chinese parents will give their children a jade as a mascot to exorcise evil spirits because they believe wearing jade will bring them good luck. In Chinese culture, jade has significant meaning. You can buy one and hand it down from generation to generation.

Jewelry

Jewelry is one of the most popular items among women. China has a huge and growing demand for jewelry. In just a few years, China's jewelry market has jumped to the forefront of the world from only 1% of the world in previous years, second only to the United States and Japan. In China, most jewelry is used for body and design decoration. Chinese jewelry is shiny, light, and exquisite in style, and it can be paired with anything.

Chinese jewelry has huge price differences, varying from several hundred yuan to even ten thousand yuan. Despite the high price, you can find some cheaper bracelets and necklaces at some stores. Despite their low price, some cheap pearls of jewelry are beautiful and have a fine luster. You can explore the markets in Tibet or Chengdu. If you prefer the costly and high-end kind, you can choose some famous brands of jewelry, such as Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang. It is recommended that you pick up a necklace of sea pearls, which come in fascinating colors like light blue and pink. But you should be careful when you plan to buy a costly one. You had better check the jewelry by rubbing it on the glass before buying.

There is no doubt that jewelry can make a woman more beautiful. There are various styles of jewelry. You can get the pearl necklaces, diamond rings, jade bracelets, and carnelian earrings at different jewelry shops. Or you can pick up one for your daughter and give it to her as a gift when she gets married.

Chopsticks

Chopsticks are one of the most distinctive pieces of traditional Chinese tableware. Unlike cutlery such as a knife and fork, chopsticks are so versatile that you can use them with any food. In China, every person of all ages eats with chopsticks. But for a new traveler to China, chopsticks may be quite hard to use. When you visit China, and if you take some Chinese specialties home, it is necessary for you to learn how to eat with chopsticks. You need to buy some chopsticks here.

There are chopsticks of various lengths and materials. Chopsticks in wood are the most widely used and cheapest without any decoration, but some chopsticks are extremely beautiful with the upper part made into a fine shape or covered in glittering gold. Chinese chopsticks are also made of silver, stainless steel, bamboo, and ceramics. Chopsticks in bamboo are your first choice, and ones in ceramics are more and more popular with locals and foreigners.

You can buy chopsticks at the supermarket. The cost of chopsticks varies depending on the material. Chinese chopsticks are not only used for eating but can also be given as a chic gift. In Chinese culture, chopsticks have many fine morals. The chopsticks sent to people of different ages have different morals. For example, giving a child a pair of chopsticks expresses your wish for the child to grow up healthy. So don't forget to buy chopsticks in China. Add some unique Chinese tableware to your kitchen.

Chinese Knots

Chinese knots are one of the best things to buy in China. The art of knotting shows the great wisdom and special aesthetics of the Chinese nation. The knots are woven from one single thread, but they have a wide range of appealing colors and designs, ranging from butterflies, flowers, birds, dragons, fish, and even shoes. Chinese knots are commonly compact but delicate and usually red. You can see many Chinese knots hanging up in the houses during the Spring Festival.

It is not easy for a new visitor to make a Chinese knot in a short time. You can try to do that as a way of training your patience. As Chinese people do, you can choose the knots you like to hang up in your house, car, or bags. Of course, it can also be a nice gift for friends and colleagues. Chinese knots are sold at all tourist attractions' stores. This small gift is portable, so you can buy a large amount in all shapes and sizes. The knots express Chinese aspirations for a better life. Hang it up; it will bring you good luck.

Our team has members who are good at making Chinese knots. Keep in touch with us if you want to weave an exquisite one by hand but don't know where to start.

Masks

Chinese masks are a prominent form of manifestation of Chinese folk art, which is diverse and primarily derived from Chinese folk dramas and traditional festivals throughout the country. Chinese masks are mainly used for performance, sacrifice, and blessing.

If you or your children are interested in Chinese ghost culture, you can buy ghost masks that look so cool. The best thing to buy, however, is a Chinese mask inspired by Beijing Opera's facial makeup. Beijing Opera is the quintessence of Chinese culture, and its performance, music, and stage art are greatly beloved of people all over the world. If you enjoy Beijing opera, you should not miss this mask. This is also an opportunity for your child to learn about the excellent tradition of Chinese folk art.

Beijing Opera masks, with their vivid colors, are made entirely on the basis of the facial makeup of opera characters. You can buy a complete set of masks. Different mask images represent different characters and figure settings. You can wear masks and play different roles with your children so that they can experience the unique charm of Chinese drama. You can also hang the whole set of masks on the wall for decoration, which introduces some elegance into the home. Masks can be purchased in shops at all major tourist attractions in China. If you're in Beijing for pleasure, if there is a chance, you can also accompany your children and sit back and enjoy this kind of traditional artistic performance.

Facial Mask of Beijing Opera

Wine and Spirits

If you're a wine lover, you can't let Chinese wine and spirits slip. China has a long history of liquor-making techniques and is home to many kinds of wines and spirits. You may hear Baijiu, rice wine, and Huangjiu. Baijiu is a kind of spirit containing alcohol from 18 to 78. Baijiu has a special flavor, and Maotai, produced in Guizhou province, is the best-recommended brand, which is very famous in the world. Rice wine, made out of glutinous rice, is fragrant and quite sweet. You can take it as a common drink. In China, rice wine is popular with people of different ages. Huangjiu is one of the oldest wines in the world. Huangjiu has various flavors, and it can also be used as medicine. It's nice for you to take a sip of Huangjiu in the winter.

Chinese wine and spirits have a close tie to the country's traditional code of conduct and business culture. You can enjoy delicious food and wine with friends while laughing and talking, or you can bring wine when you visit friends. Besides, it's a good choice to present Chinese wine and spirits to your boss. And it's a good way to bond with your boss. In addition, moderate drinking has a strong protective effect on the body; however, don't overdo it on wine or spirits.

Spirit with Beautiful Decoration

Contact Odynovo to Start Your China Tour

As we know, each visitor comes to or lives in a new country not just for the beautiful scenery but also the local specialties. You want to know what makes your country unique, as well as what it lacks. After reading the 10 items above, are you full of passion to see China in person and buy up all the items? Apart from the 10 things we strongly recommend, in China, there are a lot of exquisite but useful items, various snack foods, and packaged foods that may catch your eye.

By the way, taking some portable items will be a good choice when you plan to travel for a long time. You certainly don't allow yourself to get so tired just carrying the heavy luggage when coming home. Also, it is useful to allow yourself to bargain with sellers. This is common in China. If you're successful, you'll be able to get some great deals. Of course, it will be challenging if you do that for the first time.

China is without a doubt enticing for a surprise package and a lot of fun. If you want to know more about China, please contact us whenever you want. Odynovo will provide you with detailed and comprehensive information on travel in China. Our expert team excels at the organization of customized itineraries. We're looking forward to your consultation.