Beijing Shopping Tips by traveling4fun

Name of Shop: Silk Market

This is a six story building that has everything including a restaurant on the sixth floor. Open from 8:30 till 9:00 from October-March and then open until 11:00pm the rest of the year. The best time to shop is during the week (not weekends) early in the mornings. It will take some getting use to if you are not familiar with the bargaining system. Opening prices are always 6 times what they will eventually take for the product. If you are using western thinking about what the products are worth then you will loose money in the bargaining process. These are very low grade products no matter what they look like. We had some local friends from the area who gave us the scoop on buying here and we were surprised how cheaply we could purchase items. Just remember nothing is how it is represented. Leather is not real leather; cashmere and pashmina are their names for soft wool but they are not cashmere and the Gore-Tex was just a name added to the clothing. Some jade was just glass and some pearls had glass bead centers. We found that there were better qualities in about every item and you just had to ask for them for better quality and they keep bringing out higher qualities of the same items. This was especially true for women's purses and all watches. We were offered a cheap look alike for one price and after asking for something better we found an exact duplicate for just 15 rmb ($2.00) more.

What To Buy: Do not buy electronics in these shops. They are not as they are represented and are poor quality at best. The CDs and DVDs that are sold here are poor quality and are not legal in the states or Europe so avoid them. The porcelain contains high quantities of lead so buy it for show only and don't use it to eat or drink from. The silk is good and this is a great place for those family gifts to take back home. Chopsticks, fans, jade, Chinese art and pearls are cheap and easy to find but make sure you study how to buy jade and pearls before you shop here. This is also the HOME of the FAKES. Mont Blanc, Rolex, Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton, and the list goes on. Remember there is almost always better quality than what you are first shown so ask for it. We got prices like 1600RMB ($200.00) for one item and would end up only spending 100RMB ($12.50) on the same item of higher quality. They would say you are killing me with these prices but as they were taking your money they would then ask how many more do you want to buy at this price. The rule is if they sold it to you they made money. Also we could not come to agreement on the price at one shop but could buy the same quality for less that we were originally going to pay just one shop over. There are over 1500 shops so plan on taking some time.

What To Pay: The prices are very cheap. We bought the best quality we could find of the following items and here are the prices we paid in March 2006. This is a list of just a few things: men's Gore-Tex jacket 140RMB ($17.50), best quality designer purses 50-120RMB ($6 - 15.00), designer & popular back packs 70RMB ($9.00), best name brand watches 50RMB ($6.00) automatic with crystal faces 100RMB ($12.50) Japanese movement 150RMB ($19.00) and Swiss movement 280RMB ($35.00), Silk scarves 20RMB ($2.50), best chopstick set 40RMB ($5.00), softball sized jade balls 30-50 RMB ($4 - 6.00), set of 2 designer pens with leather case 40RMB ($5.00), designer sunglasses 25RMB ($3.00), silk dress top 60RMB ($7.50). Everything was at least 1/6th of the asking price and some things were even cheaper than that. Get rid of your western thinking of what things would cost in the US and Europe and you will do well.

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Address: North of Jiangguomenwai Dajie
Directions: about 1km east of Friendship Store