Shenzhen’s wealthy residents and the thousands of Hong Kong bargain hunters pouring in everyday looking for food products, home appliances, clothing, jewellery and who knows what else, create a demand for shops that the city meets with a vengeance. Shenzhen is a shopper’s paradise. From designer fashion to street stall threads, international brands to local products, the mundane to the exotic, if it can’t be bought in Shenzhen, it probably can’t be bought anywhere.

 

Competition in the retail sector is stiff. Salespeople call their wares from shop entrances and employ touts, blaring music and discounts to net more customers (as well as erecting mini-shrines to Buddhist and other Chinese deities to help them succeed in business). Even if you are not in the market for anything, shopping in Shenzhen, especially in the markets and street shops, can be considered as one of the city’s attractions and an education in the Chinese appetite for commerce and consumption.