Living in Macao, Shopping in Zhuhai

Neighboring Macao, the city of Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province has become a shopping paradise for Macao residents.

Neighboring Macao, the city of Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province has  become a shopping paradise for Macao residents.

Zhu Jiaquan, a Macao businessman who comes to Zhuhai to buy vegetables every two or three days, says the prices of vegetables in Zhuhai are just half that in Macao. Every time he goes to Zhuhai, he buys as much as he can carry in a suitcase and the value of his haul is usually worth around several hundred yuan.

The price gap between Macao and Zhuhai is the main reason that Macao residents go shopping in Zhuhai, said Yang Yinghua, the marketing director of the Zhuhai Port Plaza, a shopping complex located just outside the Gongbei Customs, the largest port connecting Macao and Zhuhai. In addition, the comfortable shopping environment and diversity of goods and services in Zhuhai also contribute.

"The shopping options in Macao are not as multiple as here in Zhuhai," said Yang. "Our plaza offers options of shopping, eating, relaxing, culture and entertainment, that's why Macao residents like coming here."

Lan Jingfei is one such case. Lan is a housewife in Macao and usually comes to Zhuhai two or three times a week and sometimes she comes everyday. As well as buying things like clothes, she also eats in the plaza. Lan says the food in Zhuhai is not only cheaper, but it's also fresher.

Since its opening on December 19, 1999 to celebrate Macao's return to China, the port plaza has become one of the most favorite shopping destinations for Macao shoppers, due in no small part to its convenient location. The ratio of consumption from Macao residents has risen gradually over the years.

The everyday volume of customers visiting the plaza has increased from around 10,000 ten years ago to over 100,000 now. Among them, around 40 percent are Macao residents.