If many British people are still reeling from the economic fallout of the EU referendum, Chinese consumers are seizing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snap up British goods, ranging from luxury goods to fashion items and property as the pound sterling plunged after the Brexit decision.
"The pound has dropped and it's summer sale season, so now I can buy some very nice presents for my parents and friends," said Margaret Chen, a graduate student from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as she shopped for bargains at high-end department store Harrods in London on Wednesday.
The British pound dropped more than 10 percent against the dollar after Britain voted to leave the European Union, reaching its weakest level against the dollar since 1985. Prior to last week's shock result, the pound was about 10:1 against the yuan, but has now fallen to 8.9:1.
The depreciation of the pound makes British goods and services much cheaper if bought from overseas. A popular luxury item like a Burberry trench coat for example, before the referendum, cost around 13,810 yuan ($2,078), and now sells for 12,499 yuan.
YMT Global, a China-focused cross-border e-commerce platform and logistics leader, announced on June 28 that their sales of European goods have doubled, with British goods taking up around 60 percent of those sales.
Other cross-border commercial enterprises such as Tmall Global, maternal and child care e-business platform MIA and Smzdm.com, have launched shopping pages to attract Chinese consumers.
The cheaper currency might also bring more tourists to the UK.
China's biggest online travel agency Ctrip.com said that searches for UK holidays after the Brexit result have skyrocketed.
There has been a marked uptick in the number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK anyway, with 269,631 visiting the UK in 2015, a rise of 45 percent on the previous year, and spending 586.22 million pounds, according to VisitBritain.
The education and property markets have seen similar trends.
Rebecca Yang, an educational consultant at the Sower International Education Group, told the Global Times that queries about studying in the UK have increased after the Brexit vote.
Yang's company is going to launch a special promotional event in the coming week to attract Chinese students.
Fan Huiyong, chief editor of the London-based UK Property Weekly, told the Global Times that "Based on feedback from British developers and real estate agencies, as well as our reader surveys, queries from Chinese buyers have increased significantly. Some investors even ask for discounts directly from sales managers."
Of course, many investors are choosing a wait-and-see approach before the whole picture gets clearer, Fan added.
Amid the uncertainty, the Hong Kong-listed Magnificent Real Estate on Monday agreed to buy a hotel in London for 70.3 million pounds, providing a much-needed silver lining amid the dark Brexit clouds, according to the South China Morning Post.
As fears over policy uncertainties linger, a British envoy in Beijing told the Global Times that there will be no change in bilateral links with China while the Brexit process is negotiated.
"While the process of the UK to leave the EU is negotiated, there will be no change to our bilateral engagement with China, to the way Chinese business people, students and tourists visit the UK, the way our goods and services are traded and our expertise shared," said Martyn Roper, Charge d'Affaires of the British Embassy in Beijing.
He assured the openness of the UK, saying great opportunities lie ahead for Chinese people, trade and investment.
"Britain believes it is the most open country to Chinese investment in the West," he said.
Liu Caiyu contributed to this story