Things To Take Back From China

[Scoobyqueen]

Which items do you usually bring back from home China ie things you cant get in your home country or things that are expensive at home or things as gifts?

I usually bring back pretty pots/vases with hanzi (although they can be a bit heavy), silk table cloths, plastic water bottle for hot tea/water as you cant get any decent ones here, tea mugs with lid and tea as gifts, byros with ultra thin points (I think only available like that in China),

Any other ideas?

[doraemon]

You can get those Chinese silk fans as well, they're really cheap and reflect Chinese culture. Maybe a calligraphy set and some Chinese snacks would be good too.

Don't forget about famous Chinese teas like 普洱、龙井 etc as well as alcohol- 二锅头、茅台... ;)

[Erbse]

tea, alcohol, books, clothes.

[daofeishi]

A wife

I have no experience with that sort of import myself, but those of my friends who do have never complained ;)

[Sarevok]

I usually bring a lot of books, mostly specialized dictionaries of all sorts - you can't really get any of those in my country... and I am already a collector

And also cigarettes - they are dirt cheap, not at all heavy and sometimes of really nice design, so they make excellent gifts...

[Lu]

CD's and movies, especially Chinese ones. They cost next to nothing anyway.

I also find myself buying too many books, too many in that my Chinese reading is so slow that I'll likely never finish all the books I've bought. But they're so cheap, I can't help myself.

[Scoobyqueen]

Thanks for the suggestions. All very good ones.

A wife

I will have a look at how much a husband costs then.

[Daan]

I also find myself buying too many books, too many in that my Chinese reading is so slow that I'll likely never finish all the books I've bought. But they're so cheap, I can't help myself.

Join the club ;) I'm thinking about opening my own library when I get back to the Netherlands...I've bought a lot of books in the past few months. There's no way I'll ever finish them all, and I don't even think they'll fit into my room. But when I see a wonderful 500-page book on Shang dynasty oracle bones for just €7, and when I realise that even a magazine will set me back €5 in the Netherlands, I simply cannot resist adding yet another book to my collection.

[chrix]

yeah, one of the reasons why I had to rent a room in one of the cellar rooms downstairs to store my books.. Plan to make this into my own library <_<

[Shadowdh]

I usually bring a lot of books, mostly specialized dictionaries of all sorts - you can't really get any of those in my country... and I am already a collector

CD's and movies, especially Chinese ones. They cost next to nothing anyway.

I also find myself buying too many books, too many in that my Chinese reading is so slow that I'll likely never finish all the books I've bought. But they're so cheap, I can't help myself.

Join the club ;) I'm thinking about opening my own library when I get back to the Netherlands...I've bought a lot of books in the past few months. There's no way I'll ever finish them all, and I don't even think they'll fit into my room. But when I see a wonderful 500-page book on Shang dynasty oracle bones for just €7, and when I realise that even a magazine will set me back €5 in the Netherlands, I simply cannot resist adding yet another book to my collection.

yeah, one of the reasons why I had to rent a room in one of the cellar rooms downstairs to store my books.. Plan to make this into my own library <_<

As with the above my philosophy is that you can never have too many books (much to my wifes chagrin) and to that end I have built a study (well building a study) with floor to ceiling shelves that nearly go round the whole room (about 3x5 metres or so) I brought so many boxes of books back last time it wasnt funny... but they are just sooo much cheaper than in the uk and I have many that you just cant get here... loads of dvds too... but I already have a wife so didnt get one of those

[JenniferW]

I have one or two very ordinary things I value now very much, back in my home in England. One is one of those ceramic yoghurt pots they use in Beijing - for the pots of yogurt sold at the small roadside shops. I love it, and it's one of the pots I have paintbrushes standing up in. On a windowsill there are two broken pieces of the old decorated grey roof tiles, picked up outside a derelict house which is probably no longer even there. One has a pattern of bats and the the circular lattice pattern, the other has plant motifs. Souvenirs with a difference.

[BrandeX]

Young children.

[outcast]

Vast amounts of pirated DVD's and software.