Food
Where to buy groceries
The price gap between formats here is wider than you are used to, and it does not depend on the district.
4 min readUpdated: 26 August 2026
The formats
A street market is the cheapest and the freshest, but cash or QR only and no English.
A supermarket is predictable and stocks imports, noticeably dearer than a market.
A grocery delivery app sits between the two on price and brings it within the hour.
Import shops exist in the large cities: familiar food is there, at a markup.
Tip
At a market the price is quoted per half-kilo, not per kilo. That is the standard local measure, and it is easy to be out by a factor of two.
Checked: 26 August 2026
Editor: The PANDA editorial team
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Sources
- PRC government portal for foreignersofficial source
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