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Most shops and markets are open from around 9am daily and do not close until around 9pm, or later.

The Chinese haggle even in shops with fixed prices and it pays for you to do the same. Haggling at markets is essential as traders will start by quoting you a price that can be 10 times or more beyond what is fair. Your first offer must always be a fraction of what they ask. For example, a trader who starts by demanding ¥150 for a jacket at the Silk Market will probably be prepared to let it go for as little as ¥20; offer ¥10 and then walk away, and listen as the price plummets.

Credit cards are only accepted at branches of international stores and at luxury boutiques, and department stores. Always check just which cards are accepted and carry enough cash to cover in case your plastic is rejected.

Beijing is awash with fakes, from counterfeit Rolex watches to careful copies of North Face jackets. Some of these are extremely well done, with counterfeiters even going so far to replicate the internal workings of watches. Of course, itis all illegal. The piracy is likely to be stamped out, or at least sent underground, by the time the 2008 Olympic Games come around. Until then, a shopping session at the Silk Market remains high on most tourists’ list.

Counterfeit goods and fakes aside, there are few real bargains to be had in Beijing. No matter how good your haggling skills, no market trader ever sells at a loss, or even at anything like cost price (despite what they tell you). The antiques are anything but old and even the Mao memorabilia is made specifically for the tourist trade. The simple rule is, buy something because you like it, not because you have been told that it is worth a great deal.

As well as fake clothing, Beijing is awash with pirate DVDs and CDs, sold openly from specialist stores. Movies appear on disc even before they’ve been premiered. Some of the less recent releases are highly professional with all the added extras. However, some disks just won’t play at all. It’s a bit of a gamble and, again, the flow of product is likely to dry up in the run up to the 2008 Olympics.

If you have the time and the inclination, one of the most satisfying shopping experiences is to buy some cloth and have a local tailor make up clothes to your own design or specifications. Present them with an example and they can make exact copies of your favorite shirts or trousers. They can even work from pictures in a magazine. Yaxiu Market in Sanlitun has the greatest number of tailors, plus plenty of stalls selling cloth.

Make sure that you really want what you’re buying because there is no such thing as a refund in China.

Beijing’s main shopping street is Wangfujing Dajie. Other good places include the Dazhalan and Liulichang areas south of Tian’an Men Square, and on and off Sanlitun Bei Lu.

Don’t mix up Beijing with Hong Kong: there are no bargain electronics here. Most hardware is imported and so costs significantly more than in your home country. You can get cheap Chinese-made equivalents but these are unreliable and there is no warranty.