Hauling

1 · The logistics doctrine

Our route runs Hong Kong → Changsha → Luoyang → Pingyao → Beijing → Yantai → Hangzhou → Shanghai. Shanghai is now firming up as Fri 10/30 to Sun 11/1(two nights), no longer a same-day departure — so you finally get a real Shanghai window for consolidation, repacking, and a last buy.

• Do not drag purchases across all seven train legs. China HSR enforces a soft ~20kg / 160cm-linear allowance per person, and oversized boxes are a hassle through station security. Buy, then send it onward.
• Ship forward with SF Express (顺丰 / SF Express). China's premier domestic courier, fast and reliable, with an English app. Ship each purchase to your next long stay or to your final hotel. Any hotel front desk will hold an incoming parcel for a registered guest.
• Consolidate in Shanghai (Oct 30-Nov 1). With two Shanghai nights firming up, you can have purchases routed straight to the Shanghai hotel and repack on Friday/Saturday rather than racing the train from Hangzhou. Hangzhou (Oct 28-29) is the better silk/tea pickup window, then ship forward.
• Buy the luggage cheaply in-country. Hard-shell cases are everywhere and a fraction of Western prices. Buy them early in Beijing (3 days) so you can pack as you go.

2 · Where to buy what

Oil painting — Dafen, Shenzhen

• Dafen Oil Painting Village sits just across the border from Hong Kong, the world's largest oil-painting production hub. Hit it at the start of the trip.
• Buy it unframed and rolled and frame it at home. This dodges the fragility problem, the bulk, and any oversized-baggage limit. It ships cheaply in a cardboard tube via SF Express.
• Bargaining is expected here (one of the few places it is).

Bespoke suit — Hong Kong or Beijing, never Shanghai

• Tailoring needs fittings, so it cannot be a Shanghai job. Do it in Hong Kong (3 days, first stop, the tailoring capital, with express houses turning a suit in 2-3 days) or Beijing (3 days, may slide to 4 if the schedule shifts later).
• Get measured on day one, take the final fitting before you leave that city, then the suit travels with you. A suit is only 2-3kg.

Pu'erh tea — Maliandao, Beijing

• Maliandao Tea Street in Beijing is the country's largest tea market and you have 3 days there. We do not pass Yunnan (the source), so this is your shot.
• Buy aged cakes from a reputable shop and taste before buying. The aged-pu'erh market is rife with fakes and inflated "vintage" claims.
• Tea is dense but compresses well. A tong (7 cakes) is about 2.5kg and packs flat.

Worth adding

• Silk — Hangzhou is China's silk capital and you're there Oct 28-29. Scarves, bedding, fabric by the metre.
• Yixing zisha clay teapot (紫砂壶) — Yixing sits right beside Hangzhou/Shanghai. The proper companion to the pu'erh.
• Carved stone name-chop / seal — cheap, light, personal, engraved with your name in Chinese.
• Freshwater pearls — Zhejiang (the Hangzhou region) is a major pearl hub.
• Cashmere and down — good quality, low prices.

3 · Customs on the home front

This is the part most people forget. Whatever country you fly home to taxes goods above a personal allowance, and a painting plus a suit plus good tea will clear it easily. Keep every receipt and declare honestly.

• USA: $800 duty-free personal exemption per traveler. Above that, duty applies on the excess. Most of the group lands here.
• Ireland / EU: only €430 for air travelers. Above that you owe 23% Irish import VAT on the value over the allowance, plus duty on some categories. (Nick, this is you.)
• Original artworks can attract favorable VAT treatment in the EU, but don't assume it — bring the artist's receipt.
• Claim China's departure VAT refund at the Tax Free counters in Shanghai Pudong. Ask for the refund form when you buy from a participating store (minimum ~¥500 per store per day), keep goods unused, refund within 90 days. It offsets some of the home-country bite.
• Alcohol: if you grab baijiu, the duty-free limit is 1L of spirits into both the US and EU.

4 · Baggage allowances

• Check your own airline before you load up. Allowances vary wildly by carrier and class.
• Nick (Qatar business, Shanghai → Doha → Dublin): 2 pieces, 40kg (88lb) each, 300cm linear max per bag. That's 80kg of capacity and a generous size limit — more than enough; you'll fill weight before dimensions.
• Economy long-haul is typically 1-2 bags at 23kg. Budget your hauls accordingly.

5 · Don't

• Don't buy antiques or anything pre-1949 without the red-wax export seal. China bans the export of cultural relics and customs does check. New reproductions are fine.
• Don't buy expensive jade unless you genuinely know it. The category is scam-heavy and convincing fakes are everywhere.
• Don't check fragile framed art. Roll it, ship it, frame it at home.
• Don't under-declare at home. That's smuggling, not a tax-planning strategy.