🛍️ China: souvenirs
China's craft depth is bottomless - tea, silk, porcelain and jade, with fakes to match at every level; buy from the source regions when you can. Here is what travellers bring home from China, where the good versions live, and the export questions worth a look - alongside our 472 written places.
🛒 The classic buys
Tea from the mountains
Longjing from Hangzhou, oolongs from Fujian, pu-erh cakes from Yunnan - buy from tea markets where they brew before you buy.
Porcelain from Jingdezhen
The porcelain capital for a thousand years - studio pieces and honest reproductions of classic styles.
Silk from Suzhou or Hangzhou
Scarves, duvets and embroidery - the burn test (real silk smells of hair, not plastic) is standard practice.
Calligraphy kit
Brushes, ink stones, seals carved with your name - the scholar's four treasures from specialist streets.
Jade, carefully
Beautiful and brutally faked - buy from reputable shops with certificates, or buy for beauty at prices you can shrug off.
Snacks and spirits
White rabbit sweets, regional teas snacks, and baijiu in collectible bottles for the brave.
⚠️ Check before you buy
- Anything presented as antique needs the red wax seal and export paperwork - items over set ages cannot leave without it.
- Jade and 'antique' markets run on theatre - certificates from independent gemologists are the only jade guarantee.
- Check your home country's rules on plant and animal products - traditional medicine ingredients often cross CITES lines.
✗ Better left behind
- Ivory, rhino horn, tiger and pangolin products in any form - banned in trade and at nearly every border.
- 'Ancient' coins and bronzes from market stalls - export-illegal if real, worthless if not.
Markets shift, workshops close and open, and the best souvenir is still the one with a story you were there for. Buy from makers where you can, keep receipts for anything substantial, and when a deal feels too good, it usually is.