The DongXi (东西 dōngxi) Shop

All over China there are these amazing shops that I like to call DōngXi (东西) Shops. DōngXi literally means "east and west" and basically means "thing"—and that's exactly what these shops are full of—things. From socks, to pots, to snacks, to tools, to floor mats, to phone cards—these shops have it all. If there is ever some random thing that I need, I immediately head to the DōngXi Shop that is just outside the apartment complex I live in. Generally speaking, the people who own these shops have created the shop out of their personal living space, leaving them a small room behind or above the shop as their actual living area.

Now don't get confused. As many of you who know me well know, I like to make up words and make up meanings for words. I have begun to do this in C-Land as well, coining the phrase DōngXi Shop. I have no idea what these little shops are actually called, or if they even have a name, but it makes my heart happy to know that there are a handful of people walking around Shanghai referring to them as DōngXi Shops.

The second most amazing thing about these shops (behind the sheer variety of items it supplies), is the quantity of the variety it supplies. In a very small footprint the owners create aisles barely large enough for one person, and proceed to stack items on shelves to the ceilings. Things poor off the shelves, and out the front door of the shops as the sidewalk becomes fair game for extending your shop space (also fair game for expanding your apartment space, restaurant space, etc). At night, after the shop has closed, I can only imagine how much more crammed the inside is as it struggles to hold not only what was already in the shop, but everything that once resided on the sidewalk as well.

These shops are one of the closest things I've found to garage sales in C-Land in that you just never know what you may find in them—and in that what you find is usually pretty cheap.

The DongXi Shops are also especially useful to the crafty mind. I never cease to confuse the shop owners as I evaluate the use of wire mesh for displaying photographs, or piping to act as a flagpole or to be made into mini hurdles.

To me, these shops are one of the jewels of C-land and always the first place I recommend looking when a friend says "Do you know where I could get a _________?"

Below: The aisles of the local DongXi Shop across the street from my apartment. I still haven't had a chance to truly discover everything it sells.