As one of China's most dynamic cities, Hangzhou is a pearl in the Yangtze River Delta. Shopping in Hangzhou is an amazing experience. A lot of specialties such as China silk, tea, and lotus root starch are available for you. Today modern brands abound in various shops, stores, supermarkets, and plazas, benefitting people a lot.
What to shop
Silk
Hangzhou has established itself as the home of silk products for a long time. The silk products unearthed, which can be traced back to Liangzhu 4700 years ago, have revealed that silk in Hangzhou has a profound history and high quality. Silk shops which spred all over Qinghe Fang in ancient times had also witnessed the boom of silk economy.
Nowadays, fourteen broad categories such as silk, satin, cotton, spin, crepe, thin silk etc. are produced in Hangzhou with more than 200 varieties and over 2000 kinds of designs and colors in which the design is novel and fashion, flowers are clearly layered and characters are vivid. Many products have been honored for good quality and sold well in the world to more than 100 countries and regions.
Longjing Tea
As early as Tang Dynasty, the renowned scholar Lu Yu once wrote about Hangzhou tea culture in his book "Sage of Tea". In the city, West lake Longjing enjoys the highest reputation. It was divided into four categories in the past: lion, dragon, cloud and tiger. Now, it has been distinguished by its origin and fallen into 3 categories: lion, dragon and plum flower. The unique origin and fine climatic conditions have provided good outer forces for the growth of Longjing Tea leaves. Besides, careful processing is an indispensable part to make Longjing Tea much more fragrant and tasteful. There are two procedures in the processing: enzyme inhibiting process and roasting process. During the whole process, no knead is used so as to ensure the nature of the tea leaves. Generally speaking, it will spend 6 hours for picking tea leaves and another 4 hours for frying. With these procedures, the mystery of Longjing Tea is exposed.
Besides, many famous traditional craftworks and local products can be found in Hangzhou. There are quite a few antiques and craftworks sold in Wushan night market which is near Hu Bin Road, also cultural relic shops in Jiao Gong Road and craft and tour products market in Guang Fu Road etc. All these places are worth visiting for their unique features. When come to Hangzhou, it is necessary for you to take one or two local specialties as gifts presented to your family members, relatives and friends. Hangzhou embroidery, silk, Longjing tea and west lake silk umbrella are great choices.
Where to shop
Yan'an Road
Hangzhou has wholly integrated globally with all kinds of goods and world-famous brands well stocked.Yan'an Road is called "Hangzhou First Street", intersected with Kaiyuan Road, Jiefang Road, Pinghai Road, Qingchun Road and Fengqi Road, in a length of 3405. It is a traffic artery and at present the busiest shopping street in Hangzhou. Along the street there is Provincial Great Hall of People, Menglianglou Restaurant, Nanfang Restaurant, International Department, Hangzhou Department Store and many other commercial centers and entertainment venues. The South part targets at young people with many leisure apparel brands.
Joining up with Wulin female fashion street, the north part of Yan'an Road not only displays other worth-buying clothes, but also forms a unique style of leisure and fashion. Wulin Square is at the end of the north of Yan'an Road, where lots of big business centers are located, namely Hangzhou mansion. Wulin Square is favored by businessmen and the local citizens.
Jiefang Road
Jiefang Road, traversing the downtown of Hangzhou, is another traffic artery in Hangzhou, connecting East City Ring Road with the intersection of Nanshan Road and Hubin Road. Scond only to Yan'an Road, it is the also an important business street, and a wonderful place to pan out your favorite goods. On May 3rd 1949, the road got its name and started its life. Many old-established shops can be found here, such as Hengdeli Clock & Watch, Maoyuancang Glasses, Zhangxiaoquan Scissors, Zhiweiguan Restaurant and so on. All these old shops compete with each other in order to get survived in Jiefang Road. Moreover, some new brands are unwillingly to be outdone and begin to burgeon. Nevertheless, the sports franchised stores like Nike, X-Tep, Jeanswest etc. have shown the vibrant view of Jiefang Road and attracted more people here.
Hangzhou Tower
Hangzhou Tower is located on the west of Wulin Square, the busiest business, culture and traffic center of Hangzhou. It is a well-known department store in China, which has introducted advanced management techniques from foreign countries. For years, this shopping center has implemented a highly effective market management mechanism, providing customers with high quality goods.
Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center ranked high among the big retail enterprises in China, with two-digit percentage growth in profit for more than 10 years. It is a department store that sells world-renowned brands such as Cartier, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Ermenegildo Zegna Dunhill etc. Recently, much more famous brands joined here: Louis Vuitton, Christine Dior, Ferragamo and Escada. Hangzhou Tower Shopping Center has been praised by many privately-owned enterprise owners, company managers and professionals from financial, cultural, educational, communication and IT sectors in Hangzhou for its high service quality.
Qinghe Fang
Qinghe Fang historical street: It is not only the most famous street in the history of Hangzhou, but also the only one old block with fair preservation. Besides, it is a story book that has noted down Hangzhou's profound history. Century-old shops, such as WangXingji, ZhangXiaoquan Scissors, Yangtang restaurant etc. all gather here.
Editor's words:
Hangzhou is a beautiful city, thus shopping in Hangzhou must be a great experience. You'd better bring your own shopping bags instead of using plastic bags, for the environment protection purpose, of course. Wish you a great journey here!
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