3 Best Shopping in Shanghai, China

Halfway between a gallery and a shop, Spin sells reasonably priced contemporary Chinese pottery handmade in Jingdezhen, China's pottery capital. Treasures include chopstick rests shaped like bone fragments and too-cute dim sum paperweights in a little bamboo steamer. The ceramics sell for a fraction of the price of what they go for in New York City, where they're available at venues like Bergdorf Goodman. Note that this shop was once closer to the city center but moved to the northern Zhabei district in 2018.

The English-speaking owner, Liu Xiao Lan, has a Miao mother and a broad knowledge of her pieces. The Miao sew their history into the cloth, and she knows the meaning behind each piece, some of which are collector's items. Antique embroidery can cost an arm and a leg, but smaller embroidery pieces are affordable and easy to slip into a suitcase. Ms. Liu has also started designing more wearable items.

This place stocks all the tea in China, and then some. More than 300 vendors occupy three floors, but most vendors sell the same tea, so find a seller with whom you have a rapport, and sit down for a taste test. You can buy such famous teas as West Lake dragon well (longjing) tea, from nearby Hangzhou, and Wuyi red-robe tea, as well as the tea sets to serve them in. Though the vendors encourage you to taste all their teas, as you should, they are not terribly pushy.