Shenzhen with toddler

Has anyone taken their toddler to shenzhen? We are planning on going but would have to take our 2yr old with us. Is it 'child friendly' at all?

I assume it's for a day shopping trip.


I can see no reason to take a child to Shenzhen.

Why is it less child friendly than HK?


We have a 11 week old, and before birth used to go over the border a lot, we are planning to go with him once we have his passport and visa sorted out.


What are the reasons?

Because it is not pram freindly?

Would it be OK with baby bjorn? (for small baby, not 2 yr old!)


It would be good to know - thanks!

crj and hklassie - personally I would say don't do it. There is the MTR/train journey which is not easy with a pram. It is very CROWDED when you get off in Lowu - especially if you get there during peak times. If it is the shopping mall in Lowu you were planning to go to then it is reasonably pram friendly in the halls but completely kid unfriendly in the actual shops as they are very small. A day in the shopping mall is all about haggling and people trying to get you to come to their shops so you are always being badgered. You also have to do four lots of immigration in one day and whilst it goes fast it is not fun if toddler wants out of his or her pram. Ditto for the mall. If you and your partner are prepared to calmly follow your little one around while they explore and whilst the other person bargains and shops then it might be OK. You will not fit the pram into the fabric hall easily - it is a squeeze for more than one person in there at the best of times - ditto the jewellery area. Toilets are OK for adults but there is no baby changing facilities (or toilet paper - take your own!) so if you are fussy about where to change him and not prepared to do it on a mat on the floor or on your lap then you will be stressed. Finally if you are fussy about your little one being around smokers then don't go. Not to mention the fact that the place makes your head spin the first couple of times you go up anyway - it is difficult to remember where you are in the windowless five story mall and you will most likely have no idea what is a good shop and or a good price to pay for anything which takes a lot of concentration (not easy with kids in tow). Restuarants are OK and you could take food for you little one but we did have our food confiscated going over once. Driving up to Sheng Shui and parking and taking the train one stop to LoWu is faster and probably easier. Is there anything in particular you wanted to go ther for? Most of it is junk that breaks within a month or so and the rest you can get HK side pretty easily for similar prices.

Think of a full days oveseas travelling with immigration combined with a full day shopping trip - and then add the fact that you will be bargaining all day in broken English and Mandarin.

Ness, thanks so much for your very informative reply. I had a feeling it would be difficult with a toddler and your post has confirmed it.

And, well, not to mention the risk from pickpocketers. As horrid as it sounds (and is) a common strategy is to create some situation where mom can either take care of baby or bag but not both.

The shop owners at Lo Wu are very grabby and annoying. I've seen the reaction of local HK residents to my blonde-haired daughter, and it annoys me that so people feel they have every right to touch my child. My daughter does not like strangers touching her - who does? At Lo Wu, they think it's alright to grab you as an adult - what would it be like for a child then? No thanks.


Also I would not want my child to spend hours in a smoke filled mall.


There's no benefit I can see in taking achild on a day shopping trip to Shenzhen. There's no educational benefit, and a negative social benefit, as for the health benefits ...

There are lots of things to do in Shenzhen besides shop!


Has anyone been to the theme parks with their child?


Splendid China, Window of the World, Happy Valley and China Folk Culture Villages...


We thought they looked really fun for an older toddler...


(I know we only have a small baby, but we tend to get excited about things we can do in 5 years from now!!)

We took our 5 mos. baby but drove up, parked, and took the train one stop. Lo Wu is fine with a pram, but it's advisable to go at a time that is not busy; we took a weekday off and got there relatively early. We had the pram and the bjorn for options. It is not at all smoke-free though and people will try to touch the baby; you have to keep moving. Funny enough, because the tailor we were doing business with was taking quite a while with our order, I breastfed in his area. : ) I don't think they knew exactly how they felt about it, but it really didn't matter at that point; babe was hungry and the owners liked the business they were getting too much to say a word about it. ;) We will go back to pick up some of our orders, but again, will choose a time that shouldn't be as crowded.

its stressful enough on your own....my advice, take hubby or helper too, then you can actually do a bit of shopping....

by the way, did youre playgroup ever materialise...

Yeah, China is following the North Korean model with it's own China 2050 program. The idea is to kidnap as many Western babies as possible, feed them only rice and tofu for 20 years so they become lactose intolerant, and when they are ready and have watched enough BBC and Star World enslave them as NETs. Members of the Politburo are eager to avoid Japan's misstep in its path to world superpower status. No more confusing Ls for Rs!


Or perhaps some sheik from the Middle East saw "Memoirs of a Geisha" and decided it's never too early to train dancers for his harem?


Seriously, I took two babies to Shenzhen midweek recently and had no problem. There are some really good places to shop for baby stuff and apparently Combi strollers, and there are other non-shopping attractions as well.


Pollution sucks but the Chinese are very tolerant of (and friendly towards) babies in general. While I don't recommend a trip solely to shop in LoWu (which would be extremely selfish), if you are going to do that (perhaps the temptation of cheap DVDs and manicures is too much), just put a mosquito net over your pram and your kid's precious skin will never get touched by a foreign devil (it that is what you are worried about).