The Best Buys

Chén Lú (Shanxi): Seventeen small factories turn out different styles of pottery, and their showrooms have starting prices so low you'll volunteer to pay more. You can also buy original works in the houses of individual artisans.

Hù Xiàn (Shanxi): There's no better place than the source to buy these farmers' paintings with their brilliant colors and scenes of village fairs and peasants harvesting crops or herding geese.

Zhong Bei Jiùhuò Shìchang (Xi'an): There are fakes aplenty, as everywhere else, but this bustling antiques market, fed by continuous new discoveries in the surrounding plain, is geared to locals, so asking prices are not as absurd as elsewhere.

Jatson School (Lhasa): High-quality Tibetan handicrafts, including traditional Tibetan clothing, paper, incense, mandala thangkas, yak-hide boots, ceramic dolls, door hangings, bags, and cowboy hats, are all made on-site, and sold at very fair prices. Your money goes to support poor, orphaned, and children with disabilities.

Name-Brand Clothing & Accessories: Adequate to near-perfect imitations of items by North Face, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Polo, and just about any other expensive label you can think of can be had for a song at several markets in China, especially at Beijing's Silk Street and Hóngqiáo markets, Shànghai's Xiangyáng Lù market, and Shenzhèn's Luó Hú Commercial City (not quite as cheaply).

Khawachen Carpet and Wool Handicraft Co. Ltd (Lhasa): This U.S.-Tibetan factory's carpets have rich but tasteful shades woven into delightful traditional patterns. Carpets can also be made to order. You'll pay much less here than in New York.

Qípáo: Tailors in Beijing and Shànghai will cut a custom-fit qípáo, the tight-fitting traditional dress better known by its Cantonese name cheongsam, sometimes for hundreds of dollars less than in Hong Kong and the West. A quality tailored dress, lined with silk and finished with handmade buttons, typically costs between $100 and $200. Slightly less fancy versions go for as little as $50. Custom-embroidered fabrics are also available very cheaply.

Note: Pearls, antiques, jade, jewelry in general, and objets d'art are fakes or are not worth the asking price (usually both). Unless you are an expert or are happy to have a fake, do not buy these things.

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