The real problem with shopping in Hong Kong is that there’s too much of it on
offer. Do make sure, though, that you take in at least one market. Head for Stanley
Market, which 25 years ago was a collection of small stallholders
selling embroidered cotton sheets, towels, hand-towels, wedding baskets and
the like for a pittance.
These days there are so many shops selling designer fakes that it’s hard to
track down the linens, but in among them are shops selling Chinese
artwork, prints and artefacts as well as Tong’s, which still goes in for
household linens at good prices. Hollywood Road and Cat Street
in Central are famous for their antiques shops. This is the place to
hunt down clay Han pottery, Tang horses and “Fat ladies”, as well as Ming
marriage processional figures.
For seriously beautiful textiles and wonderful old silk jackets
and skirts, the sort that you would probably hang on the wall rather than
wear, Teresa Coleman, 79 Wyndham Street, Central, is a name to trust.
Though textiles are her speciality, she has eclectic taste and you will
nearly always find rugs, fans and paintings, and very often furniture and
figures as well.
The Pedder Street branch of Shanghai Tang has something more
authentically Chinese about it than any of its other outposts. The shop
itself is a glamour take on 1930s Shanghai sophistication and it’s a great
place for small presents that come with an oriental twist – silk-covered
notebooks with silk cord ties, funky shoes, bags for day and night, candles,
scarves and clothing.
But the star turn is its bespoke service – Shanghai had the best tailors in
the world and some of those old skills are still on display at Shanghai
Tang. They do gorgeous wedding dresses but also suits, Western versions of
cheong-sams (only in Hong Kong do they know how to make them properly) and
anything else you ask for.
Blanc de Chine is on an upper floor at 201 Pedder Building, Pedder
Street, and it has sophisticated clothing that could happily go to a
Western dinner or theatre but yet has a Chinese twist to it. Floaty
trousers, silky tops and tunics and gorgeous soft quilted downy jackets.
Sometimes it has gorgeous bedding – feather light quilts, silky bedcovers
and pillows.
Wah Tung China at 59 Hollywood Road, Central, and 14-17/F, Grand Marine
Industrial Building, 3 Yue Fung Street, Tin Wan, Aberdeen, does wonderful
blue and white china, including huge ginger jars and hand-painted
porcelain. Order your own colours, crests, monograms, whatever. They’ll ship
it home.
Bargain bay
Head to Causeway Bay on Hong Kong island if you want to go where the mainland
Chinese pick up designer clothes and bags, jewellery and watches. Hong Kong
is duty free, and the pound is strong, giving more than 15 HK dollars.
