The China Haul: What Foreign Travellers Are Actually Buying in China in 2026

Last updated: September 2026

A “China haul” is a shopping round-up filmed in China and posted abroad: a traveller arrives with a half-empty suitcase, buys Chinese electronics, sportswear, skincare, tea and traditional medicine, then unpacks it all on camera for an overseas audience. The format has moved from a niche vlogging habit to the organising idea behind a growing share of inbound trips — and it has changed what a sensible China itinerary looks like.

What is a “China haul”?

“Haul” is long-standing social media vocabulary for a bulk shopping round-up. A China haul applies it to goods bought inside China. It differs from ordinary souvenir content in three ways: the purchases are mostly for the traveller or for resale to friends, not for a display case; the goods are overwhelmingly Chinese brands rather than global labels; and the tax refund is usually part of the story, because the price advantage is the point.

The trend sits at the end of a sequence of China-related terms that have circulated abroad. “China Cool” covered the summer of 2026, when heat waves in Europe pushed travellers toward cooler destinations. “Chinamaxxing” covered the adoption of everyday Chinese habits — hot water, foot soaks, herbal tea. “China Haul” moved the focus to spending. China's state media picked the term up in late September 2026, which is usually the point at which an online trend is judged to have crossed into the mainstream.

Who is actually making these videos?

The clearest evidence is not the aggregate numbers but named creators with measurable audiences. Four examples worth knowing, because they map the four things people come to buy.

Page's videos are the most useful template if you are planning a trip, because he does the thing most haul content skips: he compares fit, fabric and construction against Western equivalents, and he buys in ordinary retail streets rather than tourist markets. In his Guangzhou video he walks Li-Ning, Anta and 361 Degrees stores on Beijing Road and independent designer shops in Dongshankou. His conclusion was about quality and cut, not price.

The most-quoted comment under these videos is the most practical advice in the whole genre: *“Take an empty suitcase when you travel to China, because you'll shop until you drop.”* A second, from a traveller who had already made the mistake: *“I took two suitcases to China. I came back with three — I had to buy a bigger one.”*

Why China, and why now?

Three things changed, and only one of them is about price.

The products moved upmarket. Ten years ago the classic foreign-tourist purchase in China was tea, silk and a panda toy. Today it is a foldable phone, AI glasses, a smart band, a drone, a gimbal or a mirrorless camera rig. China's Ministry of Commerce reported in September 2026 that foldable phones, AI glasses and smart bands have become the “new favourites” of foreign visitors, and that bespoke tailoring, jewellery, watches and eyewear under the “Shanghai Custom” label now draw visitors who travel specifically for fittings — more than half of that clientele.

Buying became frictionless. Visa-free entry, foreign-card payment, and a departure tax refund that now works in most major shopping districts removed the practical obstacles. That is covered in detail below.

The hardware sector became a tourist attraction in its own right. Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics district — about 115,000 business entities and 35 specialised electronics markets inside 1.45 square kilometres, stocking more than a million types of component — now draws close to 8,000 overseas buyers from more than 180 countries and regions on an average day, according to the Huaqiangbei Subdistrict Office. Visitors arrive for a market and stay for a factory tour. A visitor from Mauritius told CGTN she found the district by searching TikTok for things to do in Shenzhen. A South African visitor, holding a pair of Chinese AI glasses, said they cost more than Meta's Ray-Ban equivalent — but that the display was better and the live translation “way better.”

How much is actually being spent?

The shopping trend is measurable, and the numbers are large. All figures below are from China's National Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Taxation Administration.

One number in that table deserves emphasis. Beijing's tax authority found that by April 2026, 46% of refund-eligible purchases in the capital were Chinese domestic brands. The refund scheme is not just subsidising spending — it is shifting it from international labels to Chinese ones.

Where do people actually shop?

The haul routes have settled into a recognisable map, and it is different from the classic sightseeing circuit.

• Shenzhen, Huaqiangbei. Electronics, components, AI hardware and accessories. The district's own description of its pace is “design in the morning, prototype in the afternoon, mass production the next day, global shipment within a week.” Useful if you want to see finished products, meet suppliers, or commission something.
• Guangzhou, Beijing Road and Dongshankou. Sportswear and domestic streetwear labels sit alongside independent designer boutiques. This is the route the most-watched haul videos use.
• Shanghai, Xintiandi and the Nanjing Road area. Design-led retail, made-to-measure tailoring, jewellery and eyewear. Shanghai also runs a summer-to-autumn consumption campaign that bundles shopping with sport, exhibitions and music.
• Beijing, Silk Street and the Wangfujing area. Tailoring, cashmere, silk, pearls and jade, with concentrated refund points. Beijing launched its first online tax-refund store in 2026.
• Yiwu and the museum shops. Small goods, craft and licensed cultural merchandise. Museum collaborations and intangible-heritage crafts have become a standard stop for younger travellers.

If your trip is built around cities rather than districts, see our guide to how to get around a Chinese city by metro, taxi and ride-hailing — a shopping day covers more ground than a sightseeing day, and metro access decides which districts are practical.

How does the departure tax refund work?

This is the single most useful thing to understand before you book, because the refund is what makes the arithmetic work.

• Minimum spend: 200 yuan in one store, on one day, by one traveller. This was cut from 500 yuan in April 2025.
• Refund rates: 11% on goods that carry 13% VAT, 8% on goods at 9% VAT. The tax refund agency deducts a 2% handling fee, so the money in your hand is about 9% or about 6% of the purchase price.
• Currency: refunds are paid in renminbi.
• Method: refunds up to 20,000 yuan can be taken as cash or by bank transfer; above that, bank transfer only.
• Where: only at stores displaying the “Tax Refund” (离境退税) sign. Ask for the refund application form at the till and show your passport.
• Conditions: the goods must be unused and unconsumed, carried or checked in by you personally, and taken out of China within 90 days of purchase. You must have been in China for no more than 183 consecutive days since your most recent entry stamp, and you must complete the process yourself with your original travel document.
• What changed in 2026: from 1 July, refund applications covering purchases below 10,000 yuan are subject to random physical inspection rather than individual checks, and the whole process went paperless. Purchases of 10,000 yuan or more are still individually inspected. From 1 September, refund agencies can coordinate online so that you claim your refund where you shop and complete it in a different departure region — which is what makes multi-city shopping trips workable.

One practical consequence: buy high-value items toward the end of your trip if you can, and keep the goods accessible at the airport until customs has verified them. Do not pack the laptop you bought on day two into checked luggage and forget where it is.

For the store-by-store version of this process, our China tax refund guide for tourists walks through the counter workflow and the “buy now, refund now” points.

Can you pay for all this as a foreigner?

Yes, and this was the biggest historical obstacle. Foreign bank cards can be linked to Alipay or WeChat Pay and used to scan and pay almost anywhere, from department stores to market stalls to a coffee kiosk inside a factory tour. Bank of China reported in August 2026 that more than 4,000 of its partner merchants in Shanghai alone, across over 11,000 terminals, accept overseas cards.

Two things still catch visitors out. First, some independent and market traders prefer cash or a personal QR code, so carry a small amount of renminbi. Second, China's rules on where you stay apply regardless of how you pay: hotels register foreign guests at check-in, and anyone staying outside a hotel — a serviced apartment, a friend's flat, a company guesthouse — must be registered with the local public security authority within 24 hours. Since March 2026, seven provincial-level regions including Zhejiang and Sichuan allow that registration to be completed online.

For the full setup, see how to pay in China without a Chinese bank card.

Is the factory-tour side of this real?

It is real, and it is now a product in its own right rather than an add-on. Xiaomi's car plant reported 479 foreign visitor tours and 9,469 foreign visitors in the year to 6 September 2026 — up about 153% in tour count and 157% in visitor numbers year on year — and has run dedicated English-language tour slots since May 2026. Since March 2024 the same plant has received more than 250,000 visitors in total.

The commercial end of this market is priced accordingly. Reuters reported in September 2026 that one research firm had run two delegations for more than 20 investors and executives, with five-day programmes costing up to about 15,000 US dollars per person, roughly half the participants from Southeast Asia. A Shanghai-based technology tour operator told Reuters that enquiries from European and Singaporean clients were up 50% year on year and that it now runs more than 100 single-day corporate visits a month. Interest clusters around Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hefei — the centres of electric vehicles, batteries, AI and robotics.

If the industrial side is what you are after rather than the shopping, our guide to planning a business trip or corporate visit to China covers how visits are arranged and what hosts expect.

What should you put on a first-timer's list?

Not every popular category suits every traveller, and some carry real compliance traps. A realistic starting list:

If you want the wider context on what each category means culturally — the tea families and brewing ritual, for instance — our Chinese tea culture guide explains what you are actually buying.

What are the honest caveats?

Three, and they matter more than the enthusiasm.

The trend has a social media half-life. Haul videos are made for audiences, and creators have an incentive to be enthusiastic. Some of the content is genuine discovery; some is curiosity-seeking. Treat the format as a useful shopping directory, not as an impartial product review.

The tax refund has hard edges. The 200-yuan minimum, the 90-day export window, the 183-day residency limit, the requirement that the goods be unused, and individual inspection above 10,000 yuan all disqualify purchases that travellers assume are covered. Buy at stores that display the refund sign, and keep the paperwork with the goods.

Not everything travels well. Drones, radio equipment, cosmetics, herbal medicines and food products are regulated differently in every country. The purchase is easy; the import may not be. Check your own customs rules before you fill a suitcase.

How does LinkedTours help?

We plan inbound travel into China across five lines of business — inbound leisure travel, business travel, tailor-made journeys, study tours, and medical and wellness travel — and shopping logistics sit inside that. In practice that means routing your days around districts that actually stock what you want rather than around attractions, booking refund-eligible stores and fitting appointments in advance, arranging luggage capacity when the group passes ten travellers, and building the airport refund step into the departure morning instead of hoping there is time.

If you would rather have the itinerary shaped around your own purchase list than around a fixed itinerary, our page on what a tailor-made China trip actually includes sets out the difference between a customised programme and an off-the-shelf package.

Frequently asked questions

What does “China haul” mean?

It is social media vocabulary for a bulk shopping round-up filmed in China and posted abroad. A visitor buys Chinese electronics, clothing, skincare, tea or traditional medicine, then unpacks it on camera. The name follows on from “China Cool” and “Chinamaxxing,” and the products are overwhelmingly Chinese brands rather than global labels.

Does China have a departure tax refund for tourists?

Yes. Spend at least 200 yuan in one store on one day, buy at a store displaying the tax refund sign, and claim the refund when you leave. Refund rates are 11% or 8% depending on the goods, less a 2% agency fee, so you receive roughly 9% or 6%.

How long do I have to claim a China tax refund?

You must export the goods within 90 days of purchase, and you must have been in China for no more than 183 consecutive days since your most recent entry. The goods must be unused, carried or checked in by you personally, and verified by customs with your original passport.

Where do foreign tourists shop for electronics in China?

Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei district is the main destination: about 115,000 business entities and 35 electronics markets within 1.45 square kilometres, drawing close to 8,000 overseas buyers a day. Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing cover clothing, tailoring and design-led retail.

Are the products actually cheaper than at home?

Sometimes, but price is no longer the main reason people buy. Consumer electronics and sportswear are often cheaper after the tax refund, and made-to-measure tailoring is substantially cheaper. Several haul videos point out that the functionality, not the price, is the deciding factor.

Is this trend going to last?

The underlying drivers — visa-free entry, foreign-card payment, a working tax refund, and genuinely competitive products — are policy and industry facts, not internet fads. Individual hashtags will fade. The practical question for a traveller is simpler: if you shop in China, plan the refund step into your trip.

For the wider picture on how China's inbound market is performing and what it means for trip planning, our China Travel Insights column tracks the numbers and the practical implications.