What is a suitable gift to bring back from China?

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Clare

Chinese hat/ dress or those clogs or a magic lamp if your lucky.

bambibalu3

I just came back from China and this is what I bought:
silk pijamas for my nephews and a silk dress for my niece, bracelets of jade, necklaces, chinese check games (just 7 yuan),chinese music, a hulusi (a chinese flute with a calabash attached to it),Terra Cotta warriors,tea,a lot of Hello Kitty stuff,paper cuts....
much more, but I can't remember right now!!!

liu_chung

The usual would be tea leaves, cheong sam/qi paos, crafts and paintings.

Some foreigners would take home a Chinese wife as a "gift" to the family.

Tai

Go to handcraft department of the department stores, anything you don't see in your home country will be intersting. Don't buy at the souvenir stores in the tourist places unless you know how to bargain.

evil_bunnies_of_death

Depends who it is for really. Anything with caligraphy all over it is an instant sucess. Especially if it has the name of the person you are buying for in a language they cant understand and a text that they dont recognise.

Other good ideas are small games, chopsticks, origami paper, etc. Dragons and that sort of thing are cool so may be an option. Anything that you see that screams out "ORIENTAL" is a winner really.

balgownie34

A traditional jacket for a fancy dress party. A nice china tea set or pale bue and white rice bowls. And an appreciation for what we are so lucky to have, but take for granted.

Al Zymer

Depends who you are buying for....... You will see plenty of stuff on your visit; from kites or fans, to jade, or Â£2,000 hand-made carpets.

simplythejest

Don't take chopsticks. I took some chopsticks back as presents for my family and friends and found that those that frequented Chinese restaurants in Britain had a collection of much nicer ones. They turned their noses up at what I took back.

I would suggest some traditional Chinese craftwork; I'm thinking in particular of Snuff bottles with beautiful works of art painted on the inside, or Chinese ornaments that you might find in the same gift shop. You can also get small size copies of terra cotta warriors especially if you go to Xian.

You might buy some traditional silk Chinese clothing. I have some silk shirts and matching trousers with dragons on. I love them but I wouldn't have the nerve to wear them in public in Britain. Also have a beautiful silk Chinese dressing gown with dragon pattern. Any of these would be great as a present.

How about a copy of Chairman Mao's Little Red Book, you can still get them, but they are not as common on the streets as when I first came to China.

Mysticshaz

Jade is 'the thing' to get from China - even antique jade isn't too expensive depending on the age of the piece. Jade is absolutely everywhere so you'll have no trouble finding some!
Lacquer-wear is a great buy over there as well.

sandra y

i brought home some silk blouses that's not too expensive and of good quality. I should have bought more. I got hold of some cellphone accessories. Oh i got nice wooden cases for jewelries with nice man made carvings. I also got some Chinese preserves especially the rose petal flower. It is quite yummy!!! Some China made products such as watch not bad. Very sleek!!! For gifts, you can think of dried mushrooms but too bulky or dried scallops or Chinese snacks not bad.

viporlandovillas

Tea of course !!! There are hundreds of tea shops with all sorts of varieties. I bought tea for a lot of people (although I bought in the supermarkets as it is much cheaper, Carrefour has a good choice).

I also bought the mugs that have the infuser in. They are very decorative and not too expensive.

chimp

a dancing bear

Misty Blue

Ah good question.My son's going there next month so I'm looking for ideas to suggest to him.lol

frank

I can give a list of handcrafts. if you can buy them, they are really worthy.

1.Tripled-colored clay horses,usually in Luoyang
2. Terra-cotta warriors replicas in Xi'an
3.Swords,they are really beautiful can be used as a protection weapon.
4.Chinese traiditional paper-cut. a common red paper can be cut into different styles: animals,persons, anything you can imagine.
5.Chinese Jades sculptures, they are really beautiful, Buy it and display it in your home, your home will be super shining.
6.Chinese Ivory balls usually in Guangdong Province. soo fantasic, a Ivory ball is carved into 10 layers and each layer can move and roll. amazing!

Veronica

the memorable things,the pics,the small gifts that u cant buy in your country.

also you can buy some fans(with the fregrant) and chinese chopsticks

dreamweaver

Not related to the question here but just like to say that an Idiot just cloned my id here. Mine is "dreamweaver" and not "Dreamweaver".

That person is such a loser. Take a hike.

Sam C

Anything OLD, old book, old cooking equipment and especially old artwork or coins. Make sure it really is old by reading up on the way to detect a copy.

This way you may well give a gift which will increase in value, also as long as it looks good you have nothing to lose. They are expert copiers though so don't pay too much.

Crackerjack

How about a take-away!

sellatieeat

pictures.
actually theres nothing reallky suitable there to bring back. yolu can get all the stuff that you find in china here.
I mean they import most of their stuff here.
so i gues you should just send a postcard back home. i'm sure your friends/family would enjoy that.

Polar Molar

I agree with midnite rambler a really nice set of chop sticks is what I'd want!!

HK-boy

Wine and cigarette in duty free when leaving China. Not other Chinese stuff, remember this: The best goods and those passed international standard will be exported. The goods that is only suitable for Chinese will left behind. So why take the trouble to buy in China?

Just ask yourself what happen when the toys made in China are recalled and shipped back to China? They are being sold in China to Chinese people.

midnite rambler

chop sticks

Dreamweaver

photos of the places you've visited, see my pics at friendster

lampclockorange

STD's, Bird Flu, or SARS. But that's only if you can't find any endangered species ground up into traditional "medicine" or luxury knock-offs that are beginning to be confiscated at European airports. But I've heard kidneys are always a popular gift to bring back

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