It’s cheap - really cheap.  If you consider how many goods are manufactured in China it’s really not that surprising.  The biggest problem you will have in the very cheap areas is finding something that you actually want to buy.

There’s also a massive trade in counterfeit goods - fake watches, handbags... I was often approached by someone with a “menu” of fake designer handbags, to which I usually replied “Look, I have a small generic camera bag and a bright pink canvas bag out of Marie Claire, really?”  They didn’t understand me, but I’m clearly not a labels person (especially if they’re fake.)  But if you do want to pick up some fake tat please remember that it is illegal, may get you in trouble with UK (and possibly Chinese) customs, and will probably fall apart - if indeed it is not some kind of scam.

Most places will require a little bit of effort in that you should really haggle.  The places you don’t are where prices are clearly marked, usually on a very big sign, and they’ll often be about 10 yuan, which is a pound so it’s hard to haggle down from there.  So... haggling.

In one place (the infamous Hong Qiao Market in Beijing) I managed to get 3 silk scarves down from over a thousand yuan to 65 (that’s over £100 down to £6.50), but if you buy anything here at the first price not only will you have made their day you will become their best story for the week.  The trick here is that I really wasn’t bothered about the scarves, I would have been happy to pay about 30 yuan, and 65 really was my top offer - I actually walked out of the shop, and the very grumpy lady came and got me, sulking “this is not your first time.”  Of course I was probably ripped off, but you pay what something is worth to you.  I really, really wanted to buy some pearls on the 4th floor, where the shops get rather nice, but couldn’t face haggling for something so precious when I really didn’t know what I was doing. 

I also haggled for some art supplies in Tunxi (near Huangshan), where in fairness art supplies are pretty much 80% of the street - sadly I couldn’t get the little slate ink bowl for my price - it looked cheap, but you know you’ve picked up something really valuable when the vendor starts switching - offering me ink instead of the bowl along with the paint brushes for a cheaper price.  I still had to push him down a bit - well I didn’t want to lose face - and it was probably a good thing, it would have pushed my bag over the weight limit.

If you really want to learn to haggle, here’s how... leave your hotel room with only a very small amount of cash and then go and find something you really, really want.  For me it was a fabulous dragon kite at Three Stone Kite in Beijing.  I’d originally gone in with my last 300 yuan, planning to pick up 3 kites for under 100 each, but it was a very long walk, so I also needed to keep back enough for a taxi home (about 20 yuan).  Beautiful kites, but the starting price was 380 yuan and it didn’t look like the type of shop where you haggle - but haggle I did.  There were pained faces and laughter from the Chinese lady - no English here, as we pushed the calculator back and forth - she would put in one number, I would sigh and put in another.  She would laugh at me, add something to the pile - a kite spool - and shake her head, she wasn’t moving.  At one point I even backed out and started waving at a cheaper kite - but it just wasn’t as nice as the one I’d chosen.  I think I may have confused her a little bit, I’d got her down to 280 yuan, just enough, but in one final push I got her down to 260 - just enough to buy a coffee at the airport in the morning.  (Of course then I changed some US dollars in the morning and managed to spend all of that at the airport - apart from 1 yuan!)

If you are haggling somewhere really basic it’s worth having a notebook and a pen - I really can’t understand when they do numbers with their hands.  You write down a number, they cross it out... I find you can usually get a better deal when you buy more than one thing.  In places where they say they don’t haggle you can find out if they do by wavering over the price; you’ll often see the price drop or “as you are my very good friend”... I find a “not even for me, your best customer?” usually gets a bit of discount.  It might not be the best they can do, but as long as it’s cheaper than the price my friend got I’m happy (it’s all about saving face.)

So what is worth buying and how do you know if you got a good price?  Well I was so happy with my kite, and you know what, also happy that I had spent all my money on a present for my family, and was very happy that I didn’t buy a cheaper kite - especially when I saw those cheaper kites on sale for 80 yuan in the airport (not such a nice box but hey.)  Whereas the art supplies I got for about 50 yuan were on sale at the airport for 280... Pay what makes you happy, even if that means very gently haggling down 5-10 yuan because the price is so cheap anyway, or paying full price because the shop is soooo pathetic (hey, those pity buys actually really came in handy - the ones where the zip didn’t fall off.)  But always ask yourself... would I buy it in Primark?

Each area has its appeal, my thoughts are usually “is it unique, is it cheap?”  West Street in Yangshuo for all its suckiness does actually have some great shops, really good for “minority tribe” handcrafts.  Paintbrushes are the staple of Tunxi (near Huangshan), and Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong - well take your pick. 

If you are looking for clothes then you may well have to get there early in your trip if you are a normal sized English person.  There is no vanity here, I had to keep saying to the shop assistants when looking at tops and dresses “Big, big, big, big”  - nothing ready to wear in my size.  I did find the cutest little shop at The Bund end of Nanjing Road in Shanghai where the lovely lady offered to make me new tops in my size (the starting price for a silk top was 380 yuan, down to 320 without me even haggling, although it may not have been 100% silk) but I was leaving too early the next morning.  If you really want to leave China with beautiful clothes start early just in case you need to have something made up specially for you.

DVDs, like the handbags, may be dodgy or even not work, but I am looking forward to checking out the official DVD I bought of the Impressions show in Yangshuo.

For me the best bargains were all the local handmade stuff, yes, pashminas and silk are a good buy, but you can get these in a lot of London markets - more fun for me were the things like the beautiful silver bracelets and hairpins in Yangshuo.

Also, at least initially, I chose carefully where I shopped - the Chi Li Nunnery, Dolphinwatch and Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong - so that I knew the money was going to good causes (rather than in the concession land near the cable car at Po Lin.)  In China I bought from shops with a good vibe, or from the hotels where I was staying - Yangshuo Mountain Retreat do fabulous locally made slippers, and the Double Courtyard Happiness in Beijing sold so much stuff so cheaply I regretted a lot of the stuff I’d bought along the way.  But of course they said “why do you want to buy it here, it’s too expensive, go to the market and haggle and you can get it much cheaper.”  Sorry, I was so over haggling - but if nothing else you can get a good idea of the prices you should be aiming for if you want to go and find this kind of stuff more cheaply.

Also if you stay in a good hotel ask them for their recommendations of where to go - Double Courtyard Happiness chimed in with the guide books on recommending Yashaw Market over the old rough Silk Market, Hong Qiao for pearls and pointed me in the direction of the kite shop.  And I have to say that the most satisfying thing about buying something beautiful like the dragon kite is the reaction I got from Chinese people - if they ask you where you got it you know you have a find!