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Books and Magazines 
You can buy foreign newspapers, magazines and a selection of books in the bookshops in major hotels. The
bookshop in the old Jinjiang Hotel is one of the largest around. Also try the Foreign Languages Bookstore at 380 Fuzhou Lu. Bookshops are one of the two things Fuzhou Lu was famous for in Old Shanghai (the other was brothels), and there are several still there.
For Chinese books, there are Xinhua Bookshops in many parts of the city.
Shops which are more likely to have second-hand books in non-Chinese languages:
Summer is when the flowers bloom and the birds sing. It's also the time to visit Shanghai's Flower and Bird market. The name is a bit
of a misnomer as the market offers a dazzling variety of fish, turles,
dogs, cats, rabbits and plants, not just flowers and birds. The blaze of flowering plants spilling onto the street is a gorgeous sight, as are the hundreds of songbirds in the wildest of colours-yellow, white, blue, green and even orange - in beautifully crafted cages. The clear, true song of these birds has made them a precous pet in China, and, as the Chinese say, "if a bird is kept for the sake of its song, why not keep for the sake of its song, why not keep a cricket
for the sake of its chirp?" Why not indeed! Crickets have been kept as pets in China since the Tang Dynasty (613 - 905AD), and during the summer cricket season, the market resonates with the chirp of an enormous variety of crickets, each housed in a cunning carrier. Antique ivory, jade, and tortoiseshell cricket gourds are popular among collectors. (Located at Jiangyin Lu, near Nanjing Xi Lu)
Shanfghai's Huaihai Lu is the city's luxury shopping street, chock-a-block with marble shopping palaces full of fashionable products and eye-catching window displays. But Huaihai Lu is also home to some of the city's best bargains. In a narrow street called Hua Ting, off Huaihai Lu, the dresses and shirts of summer bloom like an outdoor garden. There are clothes for children, women and men. There are socks, underwear, straw hats, ribbons, and barettes to finish off an outfit. The style and shapes are just like those in the expensive designer shops, but the prices are't. (Bargain anyway). (Located at Hua ting Lu, one block from the intersection of Huaihai and Changshu)
The best place to buy computer-related accessories in Shanghai is the Computer Plaza at 261 Fuzhou Lu, near the corner with Henan Lu. This is a fairly large collection of small shops in a second-floor arcade with a wide range of all the little things you need for happy computing - wires and plugs and disks and modems and things. Plenty of original software too.There are also a number of small shops at the Donghai Computer Plaza on Nanjing Xi Lu, just to the west of Tongren Lu.
One of the biggest computer shops is the Meilihua chain, which has a number of outlets around Shanghai, one of the best being at the corner of Nanjing Lu and Jiangxi Lu.
Needlepoint Needlepoint Factory - How to Get There
1. Head east using Yan An Lu Tunnel, arriving Pudong take first the first right on Pudong Nan Lu.
Stamps
Chinese peasants have for milennia been producing a printed blue cloth from which to make clothes, bedding and a wide range of other articles. Hidden away in an alleyway in the French Concession area is a little shop and museum dedicatedto the art. The address is No. 24 Lane 637 Changle Lu, and it's between Chjangle Lu and Julu Lu, quite near to Changshu Lu. It requires a bit of searching, but it's worth the effort. It's called the China Blue Printed Cloth Gallery, and features a simple meuseum on the cloth and printing techniques. Outside in the garden, long swathes of the cloth are hung out to dry. There is a pharmacy on the corner of Huaihai Xi Lu and Panyu Lu which announces on a big sign in the window that it sells sexual products, including ointments which claim to sustain pleasure and cure, or at least prevent, AIDS at the same time. Other items including equipment and paraphenalia available. A white-coated attendant is available for consultations. Sales, she said, are good. Chinese tend to buy single items, while foreigners buy in bulk. The paraphenalia for use by ladies, she said, are largely bought by older men who are not so active any more for their wives. How thoughtful. Good ties are a difficult thing to find. If you're looking for one in Shanghai, you could be looking a long time. This shop is not the perfect place by New York standards, perhaps, but the selection is pretty good: Collito, on Shaanxi Lu near the Yanan Lu intersection, adjacent to the porcelain store (the shop doesn't seem to have a street number). |
3. Take another right on Pu Cheng Lu (a lane), through street market (not easy in a taxi; you may have to get out and walk it), til the lane ends at a T-junction.
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