Current Distinguished brands in China

[Greg.D.]

Question for the folks living in China.

 

My wife will be traveling to China soon to show off the grandson to the rents. She'll be bringing gifts, of course.

 

What brand chocolate currently has the most cachet? Any other desirable gift that is not a Bentley or a house in Vancouver?

 

Are we allowed to bring in cheese for the baby? We've got a month to figure it out

[Randy W]

American PENS are still far better quality than Chinese brands. That would be my suggestion.

 

That's also true for CLOCKS (travel and kitchen timers), but that's usually a BAD gift idea for a Chinese person, due to superstition.

 

My wife had me gather about $200 worth of American dollar bills in various denominations, but that didn't go over well at all.

 

Cheese is readily available these days, but almost always processed.

 

Search for the word "gifts" on CFL's Search page - you'll see many old topics that might be helpful.

[Randy W]

Milk and Cheese in China

[wawster]

Hi Greg,

 

One of the things that went over HUGE with Rose's parents and relatives were Vitamins and supplements. They don't trust any of them that are made in China, so we found a sale at Sam's club and bought about $200 worth of Glycosamine, fish oil, vitamin E, Vitamin C, etc.and Rose took them with her when she flew out to visit her relatives a couple weeks back. But Rose's parents are in their 70's.....

 

If any of the relatives have infants, milk powder is another one that goes over really well. They don't trust the formula in China, but they take trips to Hong Kong to get it there. Depending on where your wife's relatives live, it might be easy or hard to get these things. Where Rose is from, in the middle of Hunan, it's very difficult for them to travel so far to get these things, so they try and schedule it for when one of them is travelling to Hong Kong or Shenzhen for a few days.

 

American Ginseng is received very well by the relatives as well.

 

Just a couple thoughts....

 

Warren

[Greg.D.]

Thanks. There is no Carrefour or Walmart in the part of Xinjiang she will be in - I think not at all in Xinjiang. Will check to see if there is an RT Mart.

 

However, we want to bring a specific package of cheddar that he will eat (he won't eat Telemuck (sp) for example).

 

I've brought Godiva chocolate before but I wanted to know if anything had surpassed it brandwise - also if I could pack more in the same volume that would be a plus. Red wine seems to have a staying popularity in China these days and, since they have access to the best French reds already, I try to bring a notable American red from either Sonoma/Napa or Columbia river valley. Unfortunately, that is kind of heavy for her to lug around. ( She is going without me)

 

Her luggage will be at least 50% gifts.

[wawster]

Oh...and plain old Hershey bars and those packages of Hershey nuggets went over really big with the kids. Rose had me buy a couple boxes (12 in a box) to take with her. when i offered to buy more expensive chocolate, she refused. She said when I first visited them, they liked the Hersey bars that I brought so much, that they wanted more.

 

and one of her friends, we gave a bottle of Jack Daniels to...she loved it. I think it had more to do with it being american whiskey than it had to do with the brand, though....

[wawster]

LOL... I hear ya buddy. One whole suitcase of Rose's was gifts alone.

She brought shoes for her nieces and nephew...shoes for her mom as well. Shoes were big for some reason.

[Greg.D.]

Yes, re the ginseng. We recently sent some that was Wisconsin-certified. Pretty expensive, and we will be ordering more for her grandmother. They appreciate the American varieties for having different effects.

 

By the way, to get authentic, you can order directly from a Wisconsin ginseng growers web site. They've gone around to Southern California and even their own branded stores in China and found fake American ginseng.

 

I know that the formula thing still rages on but they have plenty of alternatives including Japanese brands for all things baby. We ourselves haven't used much. We were told to bring some gifts of clothes for a baby girl and we talked about getting a better brand but I was told "no, they know the name 'Carters' in China so it has to be Carters", even though there are better brands here. But, since you mention it, maybe throw in some formula for the baby girl, too.

 

Vitamins and supplements will be minimal. Just not a sexy gift! But, baby aspirin and fish oil for the dad. And, Cerave skin moisturizer.

[Greg.D.]

I brought a bottle of Colorado whiskey on one trip; probably still sitting in their display case - just like the premium baijiu he gave me and sits in mY cabinet. Hershey's chocolate .... right.

[wawster]

I was a bit confused with the Hershey thing. Here - it's definitely not the best chocolate around. Maybe it's because Rose's family is so far up in the mountains in Hunan...they don't have a broader, more international taste of things, or maybe it just lends itself to their taste buds better.. Who knows? The first time I visited them I brought a few Hershey bars, a box of Godiva truffles and some Ghirardelli (sp) squares, among other candy to give them a taste of different American candies. They liked the Hershey bars a lot more than the other.

 

so what mama wants, mama gets

[Greg.D.]

Oh, I can eat the stuff, it's just not the brand anyone is looking for!

 

We're still going to be on the hook for some prestigious gifts. I'll just have to figure that out.

[amberjack1234]

Greg, I wish you and the wife the best on the shopping. I know that it takes all the surprise out of it but sometimes it's best to just ask what they want and then they will be the happiest instead of getting them something that they won't like or will only give away to someone else as a gift. On our last trip, we did that and everyone was happy. Except for some of the ladies. They wanted several thousand dollars worth of cosmetics that they didn't get. OH, and the brother n law wanted $100,000 for a new apartment if his parents would chip in with another $100.000. NO JOKE. You know that happened too right. That wouldn't wouldn't be a problem for you guys right? :P

 

Larry

[wawster]

Yup, +1 on the shopping, Greg. I'm pretty lucky that Rose's family is a bit older and less brand-conscious. Godspeed, buddy! I'm not too sure what brands that they might like. Here, all the younger Chinese ladies just want to go to Macy's and the Coach outlet store. Those are the two big buzzwords here...Macy's and Coach. It doesn't matter what the item is, as long as it has that buzzword attached to it.

 

Larry... LOL... I think the brother-in-law was probably a bit disappointed that his request went unfulfilled.

[Greg.D.]

This trip is the first of many during which we will pay familial and professional tributes (large, middle class family and then the work life and guangxi connections). Because we are absent for the two main holidays each year these rare visits have to make up for them.

 

The family is comfortably middle class meaning there are multiple apartments, managerial and party positions, and nice cars in the mix. The professional connections - about which my wife feels strongly and genuinely about - include some very very successful people whose wealth dwarfs everybody’s I know lumped together and multiplied by ten. Dwarfs.

 

So, when I say what are this year’s brands I mean to honor them and it will have to be the thought that counts because we can’t show our love by how much we spend. They all know Godiva, give us Mont Blanc pens, and will likely lend/give us money - not the other way around.

 

We have a month you pull this off. In the meantime, going to Chicago and the prc consulate next week to get a travel card for our US citizen son because the Middle Kingdom doesn’t recognize his citizenship (if you saw how cute he is, you can’t blame them for wanting to claim him).

[dnoblett]

Any smokers? Then perhaps Zippo Lighters.