Shopping in China

• Arts and Crafts
  China is a treasure house of arts and crafts which are an important part of the Nation's cultural inheritance. Products such as carving, embroidery, pottery and porcelain, glassware and dyeing, replicas of ancient cultural relics are all exquisitely crafted. Other well-known crafts are weaving, printing and dyeing. Cloisonne is a special traditional handicraft of Beijing while Jiangxi Jingdezhen ware is a representative of China's fine porcelain. China's handmade carpets are much sought after in international markets. Suzhou, Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan embroidery are four of China's best-known embroideries. Some of the regional art and craft specialties include the wood carving of Dongyang and the bamboo products of Shengxian from Zhejiang Province, the clay figurine of Master Zhang from Tianjin, the grass and wickerwork from Shandong Province, the three color-glaze Tang ware of Luoyang from Henan Province, the batik from Guizhou Province and the Huishan clay figurine of Wuxi from Jiangsu Province. Also well-know are the four treasures of study of Xuan paper and ink stick from Anhui Province, Duan ink slab from Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, and Shanlianhu writing brush from Wuxing, Zhejiang Province. There are many other famous handicrafts, such as folk paper cuts created by women farmers.

Other popular Chinese products include:

• Silk: Chinese silk is famous in the world for its magnificent quality, color and variety. Representative samples are brocade from Hangzhou, Sichuan brocade from Chengdu, the fine, tough silk and pure silk crepe from Suzhou and tussah silk from Dandong.

• Tea: China is the home of tea. Tea is divided into green, black, perfumed, white and Wulong tea. Longjing (green tea) and Biluochun (green tea), are famous throughout the world.

• Liquors and Wines: Since ancient times, China’s spirits and wines have developed in their unique way and have won many international awards. Famous liquors include Maotai from Guizhou, Fen and Zhuyeqing from Shanxi, Wuliangye, Jiannanchun and Luzhou Laojiao from Sichuan, Gujing tribute liquor from Anhui, Yanghe Daqu from Jiangsu and Dong Liquor from Guizhou. Fruit wines include gold medal brandy, red grape wine and Weimeisi from Yantai, China red grape wine from Beijing, Shacheng white grape wine form Hebei, Minquan white grape wine from Henan. Yellow rice wines include rice wine from Shaoxing, sinking-in-jar wine from Longyan and sealed jar wine from Danyang. Yanjing and Qingdao are two famous brands of the many varieties of fine beers available in China.

• Traditional Chinese medicine: The body of knowledge that makes up traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been accumulated over thousands of years. It is a school of its own. Numerous herbal and other drugs are being used for their high curative efficacy, and those with a high tonic value are favorites with the Chinese.