Shenzhen Shopping

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Shenzhen is a shopping paradise because there are many shopping centres in the city area and the price is cheaper than in nearby Hong Kong, especially during the annual sale season around April every year. Also, the service staff in Shenzhen is friendly.

At the town centre area of Fuyong town just next to the Shenzhen airport, there is a popular bazaar known as Jia Le Fu Bazaar. This place is huge and sells many cheap stuff, especially ladies clothings, bags, shoes etc. There are many young ladies in Fuyong who work as factory workers in the many big factories in this town, and this bazaar is in a way specially catered for them. You can even bargain so that the price goes lower, and this place is relatively safe as compared to Shenzhen but you must know Chinese language as English is not commonly spoken here.

another one of those nice, modern malls in shenzhen is king glory plaza. brands carried range from the very expensive to more affordable products. several restaurants and starbucks are also here.

What to buy: anything on sale!

What to pay: depends on your disposable income

From clothes to bags, to shoes, cellphone accessories, beauty treatments, and massage, Luohu Commercial City has everything. What's best, no price is settled here. Bargain with all your might. No Chinese required. Just take the calculator and name your price.
Most are knock offs though so don't believe sellers who try to say their products are genuine. For a list of shops that do carry genuine items, mostly overruns, get a Shop In Shenzhen book from Hong Kong bookstores.

What to buy: Anything you fancy.

What to pay: Whatever the seller quotes, half it.

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One of the newest malls to hit Shenzhen is the MixC. With a total area of 180,000 square meters, this is the place to be for all your shopping and relaxation needs. Want a green tea frappucino? MixC has Starbucks. Want the latest fashion? MixC has Mango, Escada, Hugo Boss and other popular brands. You can even go for hours of ice skating fun here.
Clearly, it's my favorite mall. It's spacious, it's clean, it's trendy. It's simply a great place to hang out.

What to buy: watch out for store's seasonal discounts...for Western food, go to the grocery basement called Ole!

What to pay: Products here are of course, more expensive than in Luo Hu or Dongmen. It all depends to you how much you want to splurge.

In China sale signs are labeled differently than in the west. If on a window or in a store, you see a big number with a chinese character after it, that tells you how much the sale item is as a percent of the original price. It is NOT the percent OFF. If you see an eight, that means it is 80% of full price, or twenty percent off. If you see 6.8, that means it is 32% off.

Shopping and bargaining will be much easier if you learn the hand signals for the numbers one through ten. Chinese use hand signals for numbers much more than we do in the west.

One through four are the same as in the west. 5 is also the same except they put a little motion into it--opening and closing the five fingers. Six is like the University of Texas's "Hook 'em Horns", where the thumb and pinking are raised with other fingers closed. (this is supposed to resemble the chinese character for six). In the south seven is made by poiting your index finger down and also extending the thumb (other fingers closed). This looks like the western 7. Eight is the same two fingers except both fingers pointing either up or down (looks like the Chinese character for eight). Nine is made by extending the index finger and curling it a bit--kind of like the western 9. Ten is using the index fingers of two hands and making an X (like the roman numeral ten). Ten can also be made by crossing the index and ring finger of the same hand (as shown).

In the following image, they use what I describe except for the number 7. In the north 7 is formed by clasping the index and ring finger with the thumb.

From the Loh Wu border take the LRT,get off the third station. You'll find a whole street full of shops selling cheap cellphones, various brands. But be sure to bargain as they can rip you off too.

What to buy: Cell Phones

What to pay: About HK$200 for a Late model Nokia