Clutching her Ferragamo handbag, Xu Meifeng helps her sister choose a Burberry skirt in Hong Kong's swank Landmark shopping mall. Her husband, Chen Xiaohui, looks on, his wallet at the ready. "The prices are better in Italy," says Chen, a trader from Shanghai who took the family on an Italian shopping trip two years ago. This time, though, the family opted to stay closer to home. "Hong Kong is much more convenient," says Chen. Things are going to be even more convenient on the Chen family's next Hong Kong shopping spree. Beijing is relaxing restrictions on mainlanders who want to visit Hong Kong. Before the change, Chinese citizens could only travel to the former British colony in tour groups. For the last month, residents of four nearby cities have been able to get individual visas allowing them to come and go on their own. On Sept. 1, that privilege will be extended to residents of Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing.
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