Shopping in Beijing

randombar

Hi, not really sure where to post this one but I am going to start here anyways, I'm going to beijing for a week of meetings in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if anyone knew the good places to go to get the gadgets/cheap tech and so on? Also going to Japan, I presume Beijing is cheaper?
Thanks
Gary

Khannie

You'll find Japan very competitive from what I've seen (which is limited).

mathias

China will be cheap for gadgets but you may have trouble finding versions with the correct language , watch out for fakes , they are rife in beijing , and dont be tempted by the Rolexs ( 4 for a tenner ) .

As for Japan , forget it , I go there regularly with work ( Tokyo ) the akihabara district is the most famous electronics shopping centre in the city , but the prices are way more than here , same as just about everything else , the cost of living in Japan makes rip off Ireland look like a country flea market.

randombar

Cool and what about dvd players and games consoles? Is the region ok or should I steer clear?

Stephen

Japan and Europe are both Region 2 for DVDs. China is region 4 or 5 I think. Dunno what the situation is with games consoles.

damienom

PSP games will play on a console purchased anywhere, films won't though!

randombar

Ya basically the list at the moment is:

PS3 if price is right
Surround Sound System
Fancy car stereo system (Will have to check the FM frequency range goes up to 106)
Gadget
Another Gadget
.....
.....

BigEejit

The quantity of fakes will astonish you in China .... Some will be good but most will be rubbish. Check packaging very carefully for stupid typos ...

The only way to be sure you are getting a real one is to go to a Sony/Pioneer/Panasonic etc shop and buying there. I even got a fake goods from some of the big named department stores (several years ago, they may have cleaned up their act)

Dont bother with any cheap DVD's, the quality will be incredibly bad (not only cam versions, but sound vision will be out of sync as well as stuff going haywire when going between layers)

One thing that did take me by surprise back then was that some of their kit was far in advance of what is available in the UK or Ireland ... for instance I got a cassette player (several years ago remember) that ran on small lead-acid batteries that had recording facilities as well as pre-set radio stations for use on the Japanese bullet train... for about the same price as a crap cassette player without radio you could get in Ireland. I also got a portable cd player that had built in anti-skip, a few years before I started seeing them in the shops in Ireland (and a lot cheaper too).
Basically the Japanese manufacturers excel at making gadgets that are tiny and have tons of features. So, very small, large capacity mp3 players with lots of features would be a good buy. Dunno what else you may be interested in or can find ... I know that some time ago I found sites that show off what the latest and greatest you can find in the tech district of Tokyo.

botvot

Hi

I lived in Beijing for a while, but came across this website later, nice chat site where you can ask loads of questions.


http://www.beijingcommunity.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=search&mode=results

Another tech mecca district in Beijing is Zhonggauncun. It is in the north of the city, any taxi driver will drop you there. Remember to bargain for everything!

Enjoy your trip.