As a travel and culture buff, He Xiaobei has visited Northwest China's Gansu province, a world tourism attraction, a number of times, but he never bought too many souvenirs.

"I cannot afford cultural products like silk or handicraft - they are too expensive," he says, adding that touristy items like T-shirts with the word "Gansu" printed on them in Chinese, are boring.

On such trips he has always wanted to buy something interesting to take back home as gifts for others but his desire remained unfilled.