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Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

I'm coming down to Shanghai and I want to buy English DVDs for kids. I'm after cartoons like Lion King and Movies Stuart Little, funny interesting stuff. Could anyone recomend a good place fairly central. I need address and name please!

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Geez, those are pretty standard titles and can be found in most any DVD store. I wish you could take a day trip to Suzhou. There's a host of really good DVD stores on the west side that have a ton of children DVDs as well as boxed sets, older movies, TV series, etc.

Mister Al · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 840 Location: In there

To extend the topic slightly. What about children's story books, nursery rhymes etc available in Suzhou/Shanghai. Can anyone help?

eslstudies · Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 1061 Location: East of Aden

Anda you'll find that, like in most of China, pirate DVDs are sold from the pavement. As such, you don't come across them in central Shanghai, where there are lots of police very conscious of WTO obligations and the city's tourist image. Howver, there are plenty of outlets just outside Yuyuan in the old city section, if it hasn't been flattened for development yet.
And I doubt if the suburban vendors carry any titles you couldn't get in most other cities. I certainly bought all the ones you refer to in suburban Minhang at 7Y each.
For licensed DVDs, big stores such as Carrefor and shopping malls are the place to look. Also the big bookstores on Fuzhou Lu.
And for Mr Al, The Foreign Languages Bookstore in Fuzhou Lu has a whole section of English [but published in China at Chinese prices] children's books of the kind you want.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

A little off topic but: I bought yesterday "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer". Not a good copy as sometimes the lip movements weren't in synch with the audio and sometimes the actors would suddenly convert to speaking Russian!

I just thought it was funny that at the beginning of the DVD, there was an PSA about not buying pirated DVDs . . . on a pirated DVD! Hee-hee!

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

Thanks for the help, but I'd already left before your replies. However the information will certainly help me for the next trip.

For others interested I went to Nanjing Road in Shanghai and bought some DVDs mainly priced around 25 to 35 RMB a copy. I found one great place in an outer suburb where DVDs were 10 RRB each. And in another suburb I found a shop with good copies for 5 RMB. Strangely the different shops seemed to have different DVDs from each other. Of course I found the dearest places first off and then the second area was the 10 RMB place and the last place was the cheap 5 RMB joint. I only came back with 59 DVDs however, so I intend to go back again in 3 or 4 months.

Where I live I can't find much and I get stuck with a lot of poor copies etc.

I did have a look for British task based exercise books but the cost when I found them was too much for me to fork out on considering the money I'm earning here. So finding the places mentioned above sounds good.

eslstudies · Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 1061 Location: East of Aden

Sorry I was slow to reply. I've been away from SH for a while, and thought there'd be others more up to date. Sounds like my info wasn't off the mark at all though.