Taking a trip to the fabric market can be an exciting, if not sensory-overloading, experience. These are places where you can have custom-fitted clothes based on storefront samples, clippings from fashion magazines, or even of your own design. Those who want to design a piece of clothing for themselves (a dress, for example) can, theoretically, draw something to their liking, take it to any of the fabric stalls, choose a fabric and have it custom-made. But before you head out to commission a personalized tuxedo, be aware of the following things:

Taobao, to some, is considered the eBay of China. While this is fairly close to the truth — random people can sell new and used items — I think of it as more as Amazon’s private dealer platform since the auction function isn’t overly popular at this time. Either way, if you are in China, you should be using TaoBao to get items that aren’t readily found at a reasonable price in China.

When you walk on the street, you’ll be overwhelmed by the Christmas ambience in every nook and cranny: golden, silvery, red, white, green, blue, all painted around the town. Shopping is one of the inevitable pastime activities for city dwellers. These days, major shopping malls have launched various promotions and events for the upcoming holiday season. Their shining decorations for Christmas are the big highlights for them and for the whole town as well.

(From Urbanatomy) Hunting for treasures after dark at three of Shanghai's best night markets.

Hongkou Flea Market

Hongkou Flea Market gives you the impression that someone has hastily scooped up all the dusty props from an old Shanghai movie and decided to make a quick buck from them.