Buying Souvenirs in China

This is a hard one.  When you adopt, you will want to buy things for your child in the Province that they come from.  Once you get there, you are going to see a lot of repetition.  If you can find something that is hand made, get it.  Things like that are hard to find.  They used to tell us to wait till Guangzhou, but not this last time.  Not only that, but prices had gone up.  Depending on your Province, you might want to buy things there.  Just remember, put on a TSA approved lock.  Your checked on bags might be a little lighter at your next stop.  

T-shirts with slogans from China or in Pinyin writing are hard to find.  The trend on noticed on this last trip is that locals like wearing things with English writing on them.  Those shirts are usually identifying companies from America.  If you do find something, make sure the shirt fits.  Their sizes are different than ours.  I think I had to buy a 4X large shirt.  Be careful with washing, they will probably shrink.

The main point is if you see something you like get it.  You may not find it later.  You will regret not purchasing it.  When we went to Harbin, we had a shop nearby that had lots of Russian influenced souvenirs.  Angie got a lot of things.  If we had waited for Guangzhou, we would have been out of luck.  Those things were not sold there.  Had they been selling, I bet it would be at a markup.