Shopping A-Z

Antiques & Furniture

The markets and bazaars (listed above) are a primary source of antiques, collectibles, and Chinese furniture and furnishings, as are some hotel shops; but there are also several private antiques stores worth checking out. Most of the warehouses are situated in west Shanghai's Changning District, near the Hongqiao Airport (no Metro). If you plan to make a day of shopping, have your hotel haggle with the taxi driver over a price for the trip. Half a day's shopping should cost no more than ¥250 (about $30).

Books

The Foreign Language Bookstore (below) offers a wide range of English-language material, but hotel kiosks and shops also have decent English-language guides to Shanghai attractions and books about China. The Confucius Temple Book Market (Gushu Shichang), held every Sunday from 8am to 4pm at Wenmiao Lu 215 (east of Zhonghua Lu), traffics in secondhand and vintage books, including some foreign-language volumes.

Cameras & Film

Kodak, Fuji, and other imported camera films can be purchased all over Shanghai, at hotel kiosks, department stores, and camera shops. Prices are about on par with those in the West. There are 1-hour and next-day film processing outlets in hotels and shopping centers, too. You can certainly purchase new cameras and accessories in Shangha, especially in the big malls like Grand Gateway Plaza in Xujiahui; prices are comparable to those in the West, perhaps slightly higher depending on the brand. Those looking for ancient Russian swing-lens cameras can sometimes find them in the Fuyou Antique Market. The Guanlong Photographic Equipment Company (Guanlong Zhaoxiang Qicai Youxian Gongsi) is one of the most reputable for buying cameras, lenses and accessories, but at press time, they were being evicted from their Nanjing Lu location due to subway construction, and were looking for a new home.

Carpets

Check over carpets carefully, with an eye to faded colors. Colors should be bright and the threads fine. A 1.8m*2.4m (6 ft.*8 ft.) silk carpet, tightly woven (300-400 stitches/in.), can cost ¥50,000 ($6,000) or more.

Clothing

A number of shops along Changle Lu and Maoming Lu sell ready-made qipaos (mandarin-collar dresses with high slits), Tang jackets, and other traditional Chinese-style clothing, and can also tailor the same.

Department Stores

Shanghai has a large number of new, Western-style department stores that have almost completely replaced the traditional (but shoddy) Chinese version. Most of them are joint ventures with overseas retailing chains.

The Pearls of China

China's oyster beds remain among the world's most fertile grounds for pearls, of both the saltwater and freshwater variety. Seawater pearls are usually more expensive than the freshwater gems, but in both cases the qualities to look for are roundness, luster, and size. The bigger, rounder, and shinier the pearl, the better (and the more expensive). Here are a few ways to detect fakes, even if most shoppers don't bother:

Nick the surface of the pearl with a sharp blade (the color should be uniform within and without)

Rub the pearl along your teeth (you should hear a grating sound)

Scrape the pearl on glass (real pearls leave a mark)

Pass the pearl through a flame (fakes turn black, real pearls don't).

Try to pick a string of pearls that are of the same size, shape, and color. Here's a rough pricing guide, based on what's charged in Shanghai:

¥20 to ¥30 ($2.50-$3.80) for a string of small rice-shaped pearls.

¥30 to ¥50 ($3.80-$6) for a string of larger pearls of mixed or low luster.

¥50 to ¥120 ($6-$15) for a string of larger pearls of different colors.

A string of very large, perfectly round pearls of the same color sells for considerably more, ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 ($1,200-$2,400) and higher.

Modern Art

The nascent Chinese contemporary art scene has been thriving in Shanghai in the last few years, with galleries and showrooms cropping up all over town. Though contemporary Chinese artists are slowly gaining more international recognition, they are still relatively unknown and their works often sell below international prices, making them potential investments for those so inclined. And many tourists are increasingly inclined. The St. Regis Hotel has taken to offering "art tours" for their guests who are interested in visiting local galleries. Otherwise, Taikang Lu 210 in the southern part of the French Concession (Luwan District), and Moganshan Lu 50 just south of the Suzhou Creek in the northern part of town (Putuo District) are home to a series of industrial warehouses that have been converted to galleries and artists' studios, and are a must-visit if you like modern art and photography. Various former warehouses and factories along Suzhou Creek are also being converted into galleries. Check the local English-language magazines for listings.

But Is It Art? -- As recently as a decade ago, Chinese contemporary art was still largely an underground phenomenon, with exhibitions frequently shut down by authorities. Today, the scene has not only gone legitimate, but it has become passionately embraced both locally and internationally. One reason for modern Chinese art's popularity is its comparative affordability: These days, the works of high-profile Chinese artists typically fetch between $20,000 and $500,000 in overseas markets, sums still considerably cheaper than works by artists of similar stature in the West.

Independent, foreigner-owned galleries were some of the first players on the contemporary Chinese art scene, first establishing themselves in Beijing in the early 1990s. In Shanghai, the grandfather of them all was the independent ShangART Gallery started by Swiss Lorenz Helbling in 1994, and quickly followed by galleries such as Biz Art and Art Scene China. Recently relocated to much larger premises at 50 Moganshan Lu, where much of Shanghai's nascent art scene has started to coalesce in the last few years, ShangART represents and shows some of Shanghai and China's hottest contemporary artists, such as painter, performance and video artist Xu Zhen, video installation artist Shi Yong, and Pop artist Zhou Tiehai, the last known for his series of paintings anthropomorphizing Joe Camel, and also for his painting of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani framed by elephant dung. Other famous local artists include photographer Deke Erh and painter Xu Jie, known for her series of China Doll paintings.

Today's Chinese art encompasses everything from pop art and photography to shock art and video installations, but the largely politicized images of the eighties and early nineties have given way to a more sophisticated attempt to capture a subtler contemporary ethos reflecting the tensions of urban Chinese life. As is to be expected of a still-young art scene, however, quality is at best uneven.

What particularly worries some observers of the Shanghai art scene is the pressure exerted by the rampant commercial impulse of the city. Whereas foreigners and philanthropic collectors interested in nurturing Chinese talent were the ones collecting Chinese contemporary art in the early days, much of the extraordinary art boom in the last 5 years has been due to an ever-growing Chinese economy and local buyers entering the market. Newly minted millionaires with bagfuls of disposable cash have been engaging -- with the help of large auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's -- in what some observers fear is an irrational exuberance of buying, artificially driving up prices and creating a speculative bubble. Still, Shanghai is nothing if not speculative and brash, and if ever there was a city that needed to decorate the walls of its skyscrapers and had the financial wherewithal to do so, Shanghai is it. Little wonder then that the art scene in Shanghai is growing at warp speed and the city is well on its way to becoming if not the nation's art center (that title still belongs to Beijing), then at least a gateway to some of the country's most interesting and provocative contemporary art.

In addition to 50 Moganshan Lu, visitors can also view all manner of modern art at the new Museum of Contemporary Art in People's Park, the Duolun Modern Museum of Art, Taikang Lu Art Centre, The Bridge, No. 8 at Jianguo Zhong Lu 8, the Shanghai Gallery of Art, and a plethora of galleries around town. As well, the Shanghai Biennale, originally started in 1996 as an all-local affair, is now an international event held every other autumn.

Shopping Malls & Plazas

Shanghai has plenty of mammoth shopping plazas (consisting of scores of independent brand-name and designer-label outlets selling international merchandise under one roof), particularly along Huaihai Zhong Lu and at Xujiahui.

Silks, Fabrics & Tailors

The South Bund Fabric Market, formerly Dongjiadu Fabric Market, is the best place to shop for a variety of inexpensive fabrics, though you'd have to bargain hard; tailors here also generally do yeoman's work in churning out suits, dresses, and other garments.

Supermarkets

Shanghai's hotels might have a small shop with some Western snacks and bottled water, or a deli stand, but for a broad range of familiar groceries, try one of the large-scale supermarkets listed here. There is also a well-stocked Park 'n Shop in the basement of Parkson's.