Shopping in China: What's Worth Buying and How to Get the Tax Back

Published 2026-10-19 · 71Asia Tours

I have carried some genuinely stupid things home from China: a brass teapot that leaks, a "silk" scarf that turned out to be polyester, a wooden abacus I have never used. I have also carried back things I use every week, after paying too much for a few of them. Shopping here rewards preparation more than most travel skills do, including the part almost nobody explains properly: the departure tax refund.

Two kinds of shopping, two sets of rules

Chinese retail splits cleanly in half. In malls, chain stores, supermarkets and convenience shops, the price is the price. Nobody haggles in a Uniqlo queue, and trying it will confuse the cashier rather than get you a discount. At the other end are the tourist markets: the Muslim Quarter in Xi'an, Panjiayuan in Beijing, the clothing floors around Qipu Road in Shanghai. There the first number is a greeting, not a price. Assume it is two to three times what the seller expects, and treat the negotiation as part of the morning rather than a battle.

How to bargain without making it unpleasant

Start low but not insultingly low, around 35 to 40 percent of the asking price, and move in small steps. Keep it friendly. Vendors have done this thousands of times and they are reading your face while you read theirs. The most effective move is not a clever phrase, it is walking away slowly. If they call you back, your number was close.

The calculator trick

Numbers are the hard part. Type your offer on your phone calculator and show the screen. It avoids accents, misheard zeros and the sudden appearance of a "special tourist price". It also lets you both laugh at how bad the first number was.

When to just pay

If the difference is twenty yuan and you have already spent ten minutes, pay it. Your holiday is worth more than the win. And never bargain hard in a shop where the item is clearly handmade by the person selling it; that is not a market, that is someone's livelihood.

What is actually worth buying

The best souvenirs are light, useful and specific to a place. My shortlist:

Tea, bought by weight from a shop that lets you taste first. Jasmine and pu'er travel well; green tea does not forgive a hot suitcase.
Ceramics from Jingdezhen or any decent studio, wrapped in newspaper by a seller who knows how far it has to go.
Sichuan peppercorn from Chengdu, vacuum-sealed hotpot base from Chongqing. Check your country's food import rules first.
Plain wooden chopsticks: cheap, light, used daily at home.
Cloisonné from Beijing, shadow puppets from Xi'an, Tujia brocade from around Zhangjiajie.
A thangka or carpet from Lhasa, bought from a studio rather than a stall near the Barkhor.
A qipao or shirt tailored in 48 hours at Shanghai's fabric market. Bring a photo and your measurements.
Dried seafood in Hong Kong, almond cookies in Macao, pineapple cakes and Wenshan tea in Taipei.

What I would leave on the shelf

Anything described as an antique. Real pieces fall under cultural relics export rules and need an appraisal and permit; the "Ming dynasty" bowl at a market is a reproduction, and the genuine one you stumble on is a problem, not a bargain. The same applies to ivory, tortoiseshell and protected wood. Counterfeit bags and watches are sold openly, but European and North American customs do seize them. I would also skip jade and pearls at tourist sites: grading is difficult, price is unrelated to quality, and you cannot check either before you fly home.

What things should cost

Jasmine tea runs 80 to 250 yuan per 500g; Longjing starts around 300 and climbs past 1,000 for the pre-Qingming pick. A drinkable pu'er cake is 150 to 500 yuan, and anything older is a collector's market. Wooden chopsticks are 20 to 60 yuan a set, a small cloisonné vase 200 to 600, a vacuum-packed hotpot base 20 to 40. Note the unit: tea and spices are quoted per jin, which is 500 grams, not a kilogram. Ask "duo shao qian yi jin" and point at the scale.

The 11% VAT refund, step by step

Foreign passport holders can claim the 11 percent VAT on goods bought at designated tax-refund shops in mainland China. In practice you get about 9 percent, because the agency keeps a 2 percent fee. The rules are stricter than the shop assistant will tell you.

Spend at least 500 yuan in one store on one day; separate shops do not combine.
Ask for the tax refund form and invoice at the counter, not at the airport. No paperwork, no refund.
Leave within 90 days, goods unused and in the packaging.
Claim before check-in, because officials may want to see what you bought. Pudong, Capital, Daxing, Baiyun, Tianfu and Xianyang have counters; small airports often do not.
Take the money to a card or in cash, and keep the receipt until it lands.

Hong Kong and Macao have no sales tax, so there is nothing to claim. In Taipei the refund is 5 percent on purchases over NT$2,000 in one store on the same day. Flying out of Hainan, the island's duty-free quota is far more generous, but only for goods bought there.

City notes

Beijing: Panjiayuan on a weekend morning, mostly reproductions. Xi'an: shadow puppets from a workshop, not a stall. Chengdu and Chongqing: tea, peppercorn, hotpot base. Shanghai: the fabric market near Lujiabang Road. Lhasa: buy from cooperatives and skip old religious objects. Zhangjiajie: brocade and berry tea, both light. Hong Kong, Macao and Taipei: excellent food shopping, no VAT games, genuinely fixed prices.

Small habits that save trouble

Ask for a fapiao, the official invoice, on anything expensive; it is your only leverage if the item breaks. Carry a little cash even though QR codes are everywhere. Markets open early and fade by mid-afternoon. And weigh your suitcase before the airport, because tea is heavier than it looks.

Written by the team at 71Asia Tours, a China-based tour operator with licensed Spanish- and English-speaking guides. Browse all tours · About us · Our guides · Reviews · FAQ