Appropriate Chinese Gifts??

[Disastrous]

My wife's business is shipping her off to Shanghai for three weeks and they've invited me to come along and see the place on the company tab, which is mighty decent of them.

We got an email through this morning from her office out there and the ladies hosting us have gone to a pretty monumental effort mapping out excursions and sightseeing trips for us.

Now, I know we aren't staying in their houses but I assume it is still appropriate in these sort of situations to bring along a gift for at least her two colleagues who are looking after us? It's our first time in China so have been reading up but not entirely sure of the etiquette here so looking for appropriate ideas.

My first thoughts, being Scottish, were that a good bottle of whisky would be superb (and probably ideal if our hosts were male) but in a similar vein but for ladies, would a shortbread tin or somesuch be good?

I know from a friend in the whisky trade that whisky and Scottish culture is supposed to be very hot over there so thought it make sense to bring something Scottish, but no clue on how much to spend, what's appropriate etc etc

Any ideas gratefully received as my wife wasn't impressed with my suggestion of "My incredible face and progressive Western ideas" as a gift.

[boyse7en]

Disastrous said:

Any ideas gratefully received as my wife wasn't impressed with my suggestion of "My incredible face and progressive Western ideas" as a gift.

At least that would prove you are genuinely Scottish...

[Stu R]

Yep, any decent single malt will be well received from my experience.

[Disastrous]

boyse7en said:

Disastrous said:

Any ideas gratefully received as my wife wasn't impressed with my suggestion of "My incredible face and progressive Western ideas" as a gift.

At least that would prove you are genuinely Scottish...

We do all have incredible faces, yes. Kind of you to say!

[Disastrous]

Stu R said:

Yep, any decent single malt will be well received from my experience.

Even by ladies? Great if so as that makes life very easy.

My only concern is that due to tax over here, they may well have a better and cheaper selection! I bristle with annoyance every time we visit the in-laws in Germany and I see even their supermarkets stacked to the ceiling with superb malts at crazy cheap prices.

[Stu R]

Disastrous said:

Stu R said:

Yep, any decent single malt will be well received from my experience.

Even by ladies? Great if so as that makes life very easy.

My only concern is that due to tax over here, they may well have a better and cheaper selection! I bristle with annoyance every time we visit the in-laws in Germany and I see even their supermarkets stacked to the ceiling with superb malts at crazy cheap prices.

Not sure about ladies, but certainly with the gents. The guys I've dealt with over there will never drink them, they just sit on a shelf as a collectible. Last thing I took over was a bottle of absinthe, which given their reaction you'd think was a winning lottery ticket.

[sooperscoop]

Disastrous said:

Even by ladies? Great if so as that makes life very easy.

No, no scotch for the ladies. Buy them a big-ass box of chocolates, and not some international brand they can buy down the street, like Ferrero Rocher. Also Thorntons fudge and Chocolate oranges got down well (although the latter is available in Shanghai if you know where to look). Shortbread also will go down well, but make it locally made artisan stuff if you can. Normal shortbread is universal.

I spend a lot of time in Shanghai, so holler if you want info (where to find fakes, good shopping etc.)

[Disastrous]

sooperscoop said:

Disastrous said:

Even by ladies? Great if so as that makes life very easy.

No, no scotch for the ladies. Buy them a big-ass box of chocolates, and not some international brand they can buy down the street, like Ferrero Rocher. Also Thorntons fudge and Chocolate oranges got down well (although the latter is available in Shanghai if you know where to look). Shortbread also will go down well, but make it locally made artisan stuff if you can. Normal shortbread is universal.

I spend a lot of time in Shanghai, so holler if you want info (where to find fakes, good shopping etc.)

Sorry buddy-I totally missed this!

Thanks for the reply-I'm going to stock up on sweet treats from a little artisan Scottish place nearby and get a couple of bottles of scotch in case I need some 'man gifts'.

I'm going to have most of my days to myself so yeah, any tips on must-sees would be great! I'm a keen photographer so intending to walk about and take some pictures so please do suggest away!