Guangzhou is the shopping paradise in China. The city's markets are filled with people, and just beyond Guangzhou's borders, the Pearl River factories begin. This advantage enables Guangzhou to offer you another option of shopping, that is being CHEAP. With a little patience, sharp observation, ability to endure long walks and bargaining skills, you can buy to your heart's content all kinds of products you can think of and need: cloths, electronics, computers, toys and gifts, tea, TCM medicine, sports equipments and wears, watches, bags…. Guangzhou has many specialty market, we list 10 markets of must visit.

Beijing Road
Shopper's paradise. What else can you call it? With most of the shops open from 9:00am to 10:00pm, it offers all day shopping, which is one of the reasons the place is one of Guangzhou's favorite fashion stops. This is obvious on the weekend when a sea of Guangzhouers pack into the 300-meter long street filling the air with shopping fever. With shops covering a wide selection from the top end at Grand Buy, where you can find most overseas brands, to the smaller shops that line the streets and alleys, it's not too hard to find exactly what you're looking for and at the price that fits your budget. Easily accessible by subway with a five-minute walk from the Gong Yuan Qian subway station and just follow the crowds.
Metro: Take line 1 or 2 and get off at 'Gongyuanqian'.

Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street
Clothes, fashion clothes, factory seconds, plenty of shoes and everything you have ever wanted to buy in here and reasonably priced, but where things are cheap, people gather. This shopping street affectionately known as "up down nine street" by the foreign community, is the heart and soul of this city.

It is suggested going there when the dusk sets in, as it's most beautiful in the evenings. The illuminated "Riding Buildings" (Qilou) with stained glass look just fabulous. The covered corridors lining the street and connecting shops on either side reflect a combined heritage of Chinese and Western architecture.
Metro: Take line 2 and get off at 'Changshoulu'.

Funcun Tea Market
The market is located in the southwestern part of Guangzhou, and you will find an exhibition of all varieties of tea from the whole country (including Taiwan), packaging materials, machinery for tea, and tea sets and utilities of various styles.

After nearly 20 years of development, Fang Cun Market is now the biggest tea wholesale and retail market in the whole country. It is a great achievement. At present, there are more than 1,000 tea traders and manufacturers doing business there.

The total tea varieties and specifications in China are estimated to be over 1,000, and Fang Cun Market handles almost all the major varieties of tea from all the large tea plantations in the country. The market has even attracted tea traders from Taiwan Region and they have also set up offices and shops for the purpose of trading the expensive Taiwan Oolong Tea.

With an annual turnover in this market of over one hundred million RMB, it is a major source of tax income for the local government. Many traders have been exporting their products through professional tea export and import companies, which are the only agents in this field authorized by the government. As a result of the tea trade’s success, employment, manufacturing industry, and service businesses in the neighborhood have also prospered.

As yet, no foreign tea companies are operating in Fang Cun market, with the exception of Lipton which has its own tea blending plant in Guangzhou. The huge market in mainland China remains uncharted waters to foreign tea business. This may have some relation to the tax policy of the Chinese government in protecting local tea farmers.

Qingping Market
Qingping Market has over 2,000 stalls along 1km of Qingping Lu and Ti Yun Lu just north of Shamian Island It is the largest street market in Guangzhou and over 60,000 people shop here every day. The most infamous section of Qingping is the meat market where live chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, anteaters, turtles and all sorts of animals are sold, and often slaughtered on the spot to provide fresh meat. Definitely not for the faint hearted. The Chinese medicine section is interesting and less disturbing, perhaps as the by-products of endangered species are not so instantly recognizable. Behind the packed crowds and stalls there are also some jade and antique stalls and the antique shops along nearby Daihe Lu are also worth a visit.
Metro: Take line 2 and get off at 'Huangsha'.

Jade Market
Situated next to Xiajiu Road and spanning eight streets, the increasingly famous Hualin Street jade market is lined with myriad shops and stalls. Red, green, yellow, grey, white, black and other colors of jade are a veritable feast for the eyes!

The market covers an area of 10,000 sqm and the vast majority of Guangzhou's jade traders can be found in the area. With an annual turnover exceeding Rmb100 million (HK$94.3 million), the market accounts for over 90% of the city's jade sales. Here, one can find not only small jade items costing a few yuan but also rings, bangles, pendants and sculptures, with price tags ranging from about Rmb100 to tens of thousands of yuan.

For instance, a jade Buddha on sale at one of the shops, Dawanfu, is priced at Rmb168,000 (HK$158,400). The traders here do both wholesale and retail business, with some domestic and foreign buyers purchasing hundreds of pieces of jade items.

The Hualin Street jade market dates back to the Qing Dynasty, but was banned during the Cultural Revolution. It has since been restored by the Hualin Street Neighborhood Office. Furthermore, business has been prospering since, and today there are more than 100 shops and over 1,000 stalls in the market.

Most of the traders sell products they process themselves. They generally buy roughs from Yunnan province for processing in the suburbs of Guangzhou and sell the processed items in the jade market.

The art of jade processing in Guangzhou is among the best in the country. Many traders at the Hualin Street jade market were formerly master craftsmen working at the Guangzhou Jade Factory and Nanfang Jade Carving Factory, who resigned and set up their own businesses.
Metro: Take line 2 and get off at 'Changshoulu'.

Antique Xiguan Street
Very hard to find but once you get there it is worth it. You know you are getting close when you are surrounded by local women all chanting "change money, change money". This place is old China and I mean everything about this place is old, from the street to the shops to the furniture; even the people selling the goods have been around a long time. Five minutes' walk to this antique street from the Changshou metro station. A long narrow lane in the very old part of town.
Metro: Take line 2 and get off at 'Changshoulu'.

Haizhu Square Market
For odds and ends, and what's hot and what's not, this is where it's at and a lot cheaper than at Zhuangyuanfang. This is the gift heaven and there is no shortage of everything, it's like an ultra mini trade fair. Here like most places, bargaining is the way to go except sometimes the price is right the first time. If you don't know what you want just wander through and see what is available and you'll be amazed at what you see. It's wholesale market but still they don't mind selling little bits. Located directly to the west of Haizhu Square.
Metro: Take line 2 and get off at 'Haizhu Square'.

Haiyin Electrical Appliances City
This place has everything electrical, from DVDs to air conditioners, everything you ever want with electrical wires and electronics is there including all accessories. The idea is to bargain and bargain hard, these boys know the price and they are after the highest they can get. It's your job not to pay them the highest price.
Metro: Take line 1 and get off at 'Lieshilingyuan'.

Electronics Flea Market
Near the Haiyin Bridge in Dashatou, there is a large-scale flea market where there are second-hand computers, used cars and tele-communications equipment for sale, and a whole street where you can buy all sorts of other second hand goods.

Both new and used items are for sale in this street. It's possible to get your favorite articles and a variety of goods all at low prices. You have to be careful to make sure you can tell the fake from the real before you buy.
The flea market is situated to the west of Haiyin Bridge.
Buses No.551, No.546 and No.104 will take you there.

Zhuangyuan-fang
The place to be if you are under 21, this is where the school kids go during lunchtime and normally you can't move. This place is crowded and I mean crowded so watch the prices here because you are paying for popularity. School kids buy anything and kids these days don't worry about the price so bargaining is a must but the shop-keepers don't like it. Zhuangyuan-fang has a history. It was once a lane where people sold specialty goods like Cantonese Opera costumes and other stage costumes, and temple fair ornaments. At that time, the goods ranged from big things like a whole set of costumes to small items like pearl hairpins. All this has now been reduced to only a few stores selling this type of thing. But the world has changed. Zhuangyuan-fang has become a street for the avant garde, the new, voguey younger generation of Guangzhou. The teenagers who shop here now don't want to be left out of the race for being 'in style' and are forever chasing the ever-changing vogue.

Now you can buy anything and everything you don't need as long as it is cute, fun, colorful, and great including things like Snoopy dogs, Hello Kitty cats, Pikachu dolls, Puzzle Bobble dragons, Paw Paw Bear key rings, necklaces, bracelets¡­and far too many more to name. The clothes are strange, but are exactly right for the bold taste of young people.
Bus No: 104, 202, 204, 541, 239, or 31 and 38.