Seven regions
Two things decide how a purchase goes here, and neither is the price on the tag. 65 of these 162 places expect haggling, and in the malls at the other end of the list the marked price is the price. Opening with an offer in the wrong one of those is the common mistake.
The second is language: 81 of them have little or no English. Both facts sit in the last column for every entry. The background is on the shopping page.
8 kinds
What the Labels Mean
| Kind | Places | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Listed entry (榜单条目) | 59 | entries drawn from the shopping atlas lists rather than sorted into a type |
| Wholesale market (专业批发市场) | 34 | one category traded in bulk, often opening before dawn and closing in the early afternoon |
| Mall district (商业综合体/商圈) | 24 | malls and the streets between them, the part of a Chinese city that looks like anywhere else |
| Craft and souvenir street (旅游文创街) | 20 | restored lanes selling craft and souvenirs, aimed at visitors |
| Old shopping street (传统商业街) | 16 | the street a city shopped on before the malls, with the old-brand shops still on it |
| Industrial cluster (产业集群) | 7 | a town that makes one thing, with the trade attached |
| Other (其他) | 1 | everything that did not fit the other labels |
| Market at the source (产地市场) | 1 | the market where a crop or a craft leaves its own district |
By region
Where They Are
| Region | Places | Provinces |
|---|---|---|
| North China (华北) | 20 | Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin |
| Northeast China (东北) | 8 | Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning |
| East China (华东) | 55 | Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Zhejiang |
| Central China (华中) | 11 | Henan, Hubei, Hunan |
| South China (华南) | 37 | Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan |
| Southwest China (西南) | 23 | Chongqing, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan |
| Northwest China (西北) | 8 | Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi |
Buying Without Overpaying
At a wholesale market the first price is an opening position, and in a mall it is the price. Telling the two apart before you go is most of the skill. Tell our local team what you are after and they will say where it is actually bought and what it should cost.