Hey guys, what are your opinions on good gifts to take to Shanghai or abroad? I've been looking around at some handicrafts but I haven't come across anything that seems practical or really amazing.

For food or bevs, I've seen a lot of tea, coffee, Yunnan ham and mushrooms. Where do you guys go to buy and which brands do you normally stick to?

Any other ideas? I prefer something a little higher quality or unique if possible. Thanks.

I would recommend tea from the wholesale tea market 雄达茶城. Yunnan tea is both famous and very cost effective to buy here.

The problem is if you don't know anything about tea, you will be overwhelmed by the selection available. However, even if you just buy randomly spending a set amount at that market, chances are you'll still end up with very good tea.

Don't think Yunnan coffee is anything too special.

For Jade, silver and handicrafts you need to travel outside of Kunming, the same for Ham/Bacon.

Be careful of the coffee, as a lot of it is instant coffee dressed up to look like a bag of beans.
If gifting within China to Chinese people, a box of a seasonal fruit is a standard gift.

Thanks guys, from your advice I have purchased a few nicely done jade and silvery pieces — at quite a bargain. They are authentic and made good gifts for friends back home.

I have noticed the local instant coffee being packaged as beans, this was kind of surprising initially but only shed light on Chinese style business. Anyways, I have found a few brands doing coffee beans as I wanted to take some local coffee back as well to showcase. Some of which were well received.

One thing Yunnan is famous for among foodies like me, is its enormous and delicious varieties of fungus (mushrooms)! The only problem is that I am not sure how keen customs is on exporting food. But you might look into it. There are many varieties of delicious, gourmet fungus that can only be found here.