Shenzhen Travel Blog

Taoism classic sayings – How to be a great leader? Business has much to learn from the Taoism. The art of life, the art of management!

Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) was the Taoism classic which illustrated a unique way of life and philosophy in China. The Daodejing presented a way of life intended to restore harmony and tranquility to a kingdom with widespread disorders.

In an earlier post, I put together some quotes from this great wisdom book by one of the greatest prophets in ancient China, Laozi. See: A bit About Taoism, Laozi and Tao Te Ching

Here are more classic sayings from the great book teaching people how to be a great leader. In my opinion, business has much to learn from the Taoism. The art of life, the art of management!

• The sage does not keep things to himself. The more he offers, the more he has. The more he gives away, the more he receives.
• If you want to be above the people, place yourself below them first. If you want to be the leader of men, put their interest before your own. Therefore they can support you without feeling it is a burden.
• To be noble, you must take the humble as your root.
• He who is good at bringing act the best in men takes a humble attitude.

art of life, art of management, Taoism classic, Taoism classic sayings, Taoism sayings

Shenzhen Shopping at a glance

Shenzhen was one of the first Chinese cities to open its doors to the outside world. Shenzhen is a prosperous metropolis influenced by its rich neighbor-Hong Kong especially at the first beginning when it is very young. Anyway Shenzhen is still a young city, has only 30 years until this year 2010.

As a new and fast developing city, it has a good selection of department stores and shopping centers, where everything from basic commodities to high-quality brands can be found. Electrical appliances, fashionable and reasonable clothing, jewelry, furniture and seafood are some of the best choices for you to buy in Shenzhen.

If you thought Hong Kong shopping was cheap, spend some time at weekend shopping in Shenzhen you will find how really cheap it is.

Where to Buy in Shenzhen

It is easy for you to find a place to do some shopping since Shenzhen is divided distinctly into several zones of shopping centers. It is no wonder that Dongmen Pedestrian Street is the No.1 shopping center of Shenzhen especially for clothing stuff. In Hua Qiang Bei you will find numerous electrical products. The famous Women’s World, which is an ideal place for purchasing clothing, is also located here. Other shopping zones like Nanshan, Renmin Nan and Shen Nan Zhong respectively have their own characteristics. Apart from these, the Chinese and English Street located in Yantian District attracts lots of visitors since it is under the domination of both Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Rainbow Department Store

Rainbow Department Store is favored by most of the locals. It is well known for high quality and good service. Prices here might be slightly higher than other department store, but it is worthwhile.

Rainbow Department Store has several branches in Shenzhen:
Dongmen branch – Rainbow Department Store: No.17, Xinyuan Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen. Tel: 0755-82351315
Fumin branch – Rainbow Department Store: Xinghe Mingju, Fumin Road, Futian District, Shenzhen. Tel: 0755-83566880
Baoan branch – Rainbow Department Store: No.34-2, Qinjin 1st Road, Baoan District, Shenzhen
Changxing branch – Rainbow Department Store: No.86, Taoyuan Road, Nanshan District.

Maoye Department Store

Maoye Department Store is similar with Rainbow Department Store. Maoye, Rainbow, Haiya, all the three seems to be local high end department stores in Shenzhen. The Maoye Department Store is headquartered at World Finance Centre Building which is just opposite to MixCity at Shennan Dong Road. These shopping malls and chain stores are favored by most of the locals. Prices here might be slightly higher than other department chain stores like A Best Department Store Shenzhen, Renrenle Department Store Shenzhen, etc.

Huaqiangbei branch – Maoye Department Store: No.2005-2006, Huaqing North Road. Tel: 0755-83210000
Heping branch – Maoye Department Store: No.39, Heping Road. Tel: 0755-25855055
Dongmen branch – Maoye Department Store: No.2047, Dongmen Middle Road. Tel: 0755-82220000
Shennan branch – Maoye Department Store: No.1018, Shennan Middle Road. Tel: 0755-83696699

Ole Super Market

Ole Super Market is recommended as it serves lots of imported products. Price here is little higher. It is said to be French chain stores. It seems to be that French is well known for its bread. If you are looking for good French style bread, you may give it a try. There have several stores / outlets in Shenzhen as I know.
Ole Super Market – Luohu: B48 of Wanxiang City (in Chinese pinyin, in English it is called “MixC” which is short for Mix City), No.1881, Baoan South Road

Ole Super Market – Nanshan: Yitian Holiday Plaza, Nanshan. It is just opposite to Window of the World, a place for tourists.

Wal-Mart Square

The world’s No.1 chain store Wal-mart has 172 outlets in china until April 2010. Except the regular everybody knows super centers or shopping mall, Wal-mart also has 4 Sam’s Club and others as “Select Store”and “Neighborhood Market”. Wal-mart product, wal-mart quality, wal-mart price, what everybody knows, no further explanation is really necessary. If you need to check wal-mart at or around your neighborhood, you can open their official website or call them or simply talk to your neighbors. What’s more, it would be too long a list here for all the Wal-Mart outlets in Shenzhen.

Metro Store Shenzhen

Metro Store Luohu
Add: Ground Floor, Building 2, No.4008, Bao’an North Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen. Postal code: 518023 Tel: 0755-83608888

Metro Store Nanshan – New !
Add: Block 4, No. 255 Shahe East Road , Shenzhen Nanshan District, 518055, 0755-86028888

Ikea Shenzhen – Yijia Furniture
Address: No 8188, Europe City, Beihuan Road, Nanshan District.

Shenzhen Special Local Products-Shenzhen Local Fruits

Jingui Orange

It is usually produced in Pingshan, Jingui and Malan of Shenzhen. It is juicy, sweet and fleshy.

Sweet peaches

Nanshan Districts produces this kind of sweet peaches.

Lychee

Shenzhen produces a lot of lychee, while Nanshan Lychee is the best.

Shenzhen Popular Shopping Centers — Where to Shop in Shenzhen

Luohu Commercial City – comprehensive shopping/replicas

Located in Luohu District of Shenzhen City, Luo hu Commercial City is just on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen border. It has about 6 or 7 stories full of small shops. It adjoins the Shenzhen Railway Station and Luohu Station of Shenzhen metro subway.

A good majority of it is either imitation or counterfeit. You will find a large variety of cheap Chinese replicas of the famous brand watches, clothes, shoes, electronics, handbags, etc.

Be aware of pickpockets, I heard some bad stories, not verified, about the pickpockets in the Luohu Commercial City.

Dongmen Shopping Street – Shopping for clothes, shoes, bags. Cheap!

Dongmen shopping street or Dongmen area is a very popular local shopping destination especially for clothes, shoes, bags, etc. There are others like toys, watches, souvenirs, electronics, bubble tea, snacks, etc. You can get to Dongmen by metro, Laojie station on Line 1 of the Shenzhen metro. Groups of shops tend be clustered together or inside a single building. Sun Plaza shopping mall Dongmen, Maoye department store Dongmen, Rainbow department store Dongmen are some shopping centers worth a visit. Especially the Sun Plaza shopping which features a number of international brand stores with severely cut down prices.

Huaqiangbei Electronic goods – Shop for electronics in Shenzhen

Huaqiangbei Electronic goods market (North Huaqiang Business Area) is said to be one of the largest collection of electronic retailers in Asia. You will find almost everything about computers, mobiles, cameras and much more electronic products here in Shenzhen.

SEG Plaza is best known for electronics, digital and computer stuff both software and hardware. It is a place in Hua Qiang Bei that you can not miss. It is said to be the second highest building in Shenzhen which is next to Di Wang Building. Bargaining will be required here.

To get to Hua Qiang Bei and Seg Plaze, take the metro, get off at Metro Stop: Hua Qiang Lu (Exit A), Line 1

Shop for Luxurious and High-quality Goods in Shenzhen

Coco Park

Coco Park features a lot of fashion stores for men and women, several jewelry，watch stores, and a couple of salons. Most of the restaurants at Coco Park serve both Asian and Western food.
Address: Fuha 3rd Road, Futian District

The MixC Mall

One of the must-know places in Shenzhen for foreigners is MixC – a premium shopping mall in the city center. The Mixc is a huge mall – the biggest in Shenzhen -and contains a huge selection of upscale shopping as well as restaurants and entertainment.

Address: No. 1881, Baoan Nan Road, Luohu District (Across from Diwang)
To get to the MixC mall, you can take metro line 1, and get off at the Da Ju Yuan metro stop. It is just opposite to Di Wang Building (Diwang mansion), the tallest building in Shenzhen.

King Glory Plaza

King Glory Plaza includes a wide variety of shops, entertainment and leisure facilities.
Address: No.2028 Renmin Nan Lu, Glory Plaza, Shenzhen

Garden City Mall

Garden city Mall is a modern shopping center at Shekou, Nanshan which provides you unique one-stop new experiences of shopping, F&B, leisure and entertainment. Shekou Wal-mart is right at this shopping center.

Coastal City Mall

A high end,comprehensive shopping center in Shenzhen; It covers shopping, eating, leisure and entertainment. Lots of restaurants both Chinese and foreign restaurants can be found at the Coastal City, several big cinemas, a huge theatre, an open area with regular play and show for singers, most of them are young and pop music singers.
Address: NO. 33 Wenxin Road 5, Nanshan Distrit

CITIC City Plaza
The Citic City Plaza is just another luxurious shopping center, offering many famous fashion brands. You can find Japanese supermarket (Jusco) stocked with many imported goods, luxury movie theater, Western restaurants like Pizza Hut, Hagen Daas and Starbucks.
To get to Citic city plaza, you can take metro line 1, get off at Metro Stop: Ke Xue Guan (Exit D).

Shekou

There are stores selling antiques, collectibles, handicrafts and souvenirs. You can find many Western style bars and restaurants.

Shenzhen shopping tips
Shenzhen shopping reviews
Shenzhen shopping guides
Where to Buy in Shenzhen
Shop in Shenzhen Rainbow Department Store
Shop in Shenzhen Maoye Department Store
Ole Super Market
Wal-Mart Shenzhen
Metro Store Shenzhen
Ikea Shenzhen
Shenzhen Popular Shopping Centers
Luohu Commercial City Shenzhen
Dongmen Shopping Shenzhen
Huaqiangbei Electronics Shenzhen
Coco Park Shopping Shenzhen
MixC Mall Shopping Shenzhen
King Glory Plaza shopping Shenzhen
Garden City Mall Shopping Shenzhen
Coastal City Mall shopping Shenzhen
CITIC City Plaza shopping Shenzhen
Shekou shopping Shenzhen

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China has a history of currency as long as 5000 years. Among the ancient Chinese characters, nearly all characters about value, money are related to “shell”.

We know that the first people used barter to exchange for possessions of value from others. They did not use money to buy goods from other people at the first beginning.

In 1,000 B.C., China produced mock cowry shells at the end of the Stone Age. With the fast development of commodity exchange, the demand of currency is increasing rapidly. There was a shortage of cowry shells on the market. There were not enough cowry shells, Chinese people began to make bronze shell at Shang Dynasty. Thus those cowry shells were thought of as the original development of metal currency.

After the ending of the Warring States Period, the Qin came to power in 221 B.C. Emperor Qin Shi Huang, also called the first emperor of China, promulgated the first currency regulation. From then on, China started to use the unified currency with regular shape, the classic rounded shape with cubic hole. This shaped currency lasted until the republic of China.

At the earlier stage, local government or states can make money as well. However from 115 B.C, emperor Wu at Han Dynasty issued new law that make the central government the only legal mint.

Since Qin and Han Dynasties, Chinese money (metal currency) would put its weight on to show its value. That’s to say value of metal money was based on its weight at those times. But this rule had many shortages or inconvenience, for example there could be shortage of bronze or silver, for big transactions, it could be a big trouble to carry large quantity coins.
In 621, Li Yuan changed the rule inherited from Qin and Han Dynasties, Tong Bao (also named Yuan Bao) was built.

At early China, the coin value was determined by both coin quality and quantity. At North Song Dynasty, there was a lack of copper, the government began to mint currency with iron. Iron was such heavy yet cheap that it was inconvenient to carry. Right at this time, paper currency was first printed at Sichuan province of China.

At late Qing Dynasty the Chinese government began to import mint machine from foreign country and make money with machine other than manual labor.

Chinese Currency History

• About Laozi and his book Tao Te Ching

Laozi (also called Lao Zi, Lao Tzu, Lao Tse, or Lao Tze) was a Chinese philosopher, traditional sage, identified by the historian Sima Qian as a curator of the imperial Chinese archives at 6th century BC. However, Laozi is better known as the reputed founder of Daoism, a unique way of life. Daodejing also named Tao Te Ching was classic of Chinese philosophical literature and Laozi was belived to be the author. But whoever wrote it and when it was composed are issues scholars still debate.

The Daodejing presented a way of life intended to restore harmony and tranquillity to a kingdom with widespread disorders.

• Tao Te Ching quotes

1. If you put yourself behind others, you will find yourself ahead of others.

If you weigh less of personal gain, you will gain more in the end.
–Weigh less, gain more (note by Bob)

If you stop being selfish, your self-interest will be served after all.
–Many plants you never sowed in your garden growing well.(note by Bob)

2. Nothing is softer than water. Yet nothing is comparable in overcoming the hard.
The weak overwhelms the strong.
The soft conques the hard.
That which offers the least resistance penetrates the most solid.
Everyone knows this, but no one can practise it.
–something like Chinese kung fu,Tai chi chuan (note by Bob).

3. There are three treasures which I hold and cherish:
the first is compassion(or deep love); the second is frugality; the third, never presuming to be first.

Read more here, see How to be a GREAT leader according to Taosim?

Chinese philosophy, Lao Tzu, Laozi, Laozi and Tao Te Ching, Tao Te Ching, Taoism