Guangzhou's shopping ethos is very much towards the practical side of things, but while it might not be the best place in the country to pick up a bargain piece of art, it's fun to join the masses and see what they're buying. Liwan Plaza is one of the biggest shopping complexes, about a kilometre north of Shamian Island between Changshou Lu and Xiajiu Lu on the southwest side of town, no different really from others across the city. But the streets around here are interesting, full of stalls and markets selling cheapish clothes and household items. Over to the east, Beijing Lu is in the trendier side of town, with all kinds of department stores lined up between the river and Zhongshan Lu. To see where Guangzhou - and China - is heading, however, make your way over to the shockingly modern and upmarket Friendship Store , in the east of the city on Taojin Lu, just off Huanshi Dong Lu: five floors of expensive imported designer gear, and some good value, domestic formal wear.

 

For functional memorabilia, the streets running east off the southern end of Renmin Lu might give you some ideas. Yide Lu has several huge wholesale warehouses stocking dried foods and toys - action figures from Chinese legends, rockets and all things that rattle and buzz. Other shops in the area deal in home decorations, such as colourful tiling or jigsawed decorative wooden dragons and phoenixes, and at New Year you can buy those red and gold good luck posters put up outside businesses and homes.

For out-and-out tourist souvenirs, head first to the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island. Their ethnic batiks and clothing, carved wooden screens and jade monstrosities are well worth a look, if only to make you realize what a good deal you're getting when you buy elsewhere - such as the shops in the vicinity of the Shamian Island Hostel, just outside on Shamian 4 Jie. Guangzhou Fine Arts on Changdi Lu, Guangdong Antique Shop, just south of Zhongshan Lu on Wende Lu (an extention of Beijing Lu), and various small shops in the streets around Liwan Plaza have varying selections of authenticated antiques, jade, lacquerwork, scrolls, chops and cloisonné artefacts, identical to what you'll find in the Yue Hua stores in Hong Kong, but half the price.