Shopping and Souvenirs

Many of the small shops in Hua Shan are cramped with souvenirs like fake rhinoceros horns and jade pieces, Hua Shan rocks and "friendship locks." Others tout more useful items like caps, sunglasses, binoculars and scarlet good-luck ribbons – apparently protection for a potentially "hazardous" climb ahead.

You can get all your souvenir needs at the cable car's gift shop at the Wayougou stop. For a genuine Hua Shan souvenir, buy some famed Hua Shan glossy ganoderma – a rare traditional Chinese medicine ingredient which has antitumor properties and is good for the cardio system. They go for RMB 30 to 300, or pick up a hand-made leather silhouette puppet for RMB 50 to 100.

The best souvenirs are the ones you take with your camera. Don't start chiseling away at the granite and leaving your names behind as souvenirs –you'll be back for another climb and the peaks will still be there, waiting.