posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Jul 22
With slick new malls opening all over the city, Beijing definitely is a shopper’s stop. But one street in particular is right next to some of Beijing’s most famous hotels, and it keeps the style of the old.
Suppose you want to shop somewhere with a little history, somewhere where you can get lost in antiques and traditional Chinese art forms. History for Beijing’s liulichang street traces back to the early Ming dynasty in the 16th century, and there is no shortage of unique Chinese gifts here.
For centuries, the street remained one of Beijing’s most prosperous shopping grounds. Today people shop from window to window on this very street for unique Chinese gifts, such as fans, brush paintings, tea sets, shadow puppets, antiques, and a variety of ethnic items.
For unique Chinese gifts to bring back, this is just the place for you!
Here are some of the shops:
Pin Hu Tang – A Good Cup of Tea Made Easy
This quaint shop at the west end of Liulichang Street is where big-time tea lovers go for authentic Yixing purple clay teapots. It’s not far from the Haige International Hotel.
Yixing teapots are said to be able to improve your tea by allowing tea aromas to build up right in the walls of the pot. The key is the special purple clay they use for the pots: the clay is micro porous and absorbent.
The clay is found nowhere but Yixing, and the shop carries a large collection of teapots made of this clay and from their own kiln. The owner himself is a well-know teapot maker in Beijing.
The designs of their teapots are pretty unique. There you will find shapes imitating pumpkins, gourds, stumps, and castles, to name a few. And you will find skillful engravings on these teapots: a scene showing harmony between man and nature, a quotation from an ancient love poem, or an auspicious animal mounting the lid to entertain your eyes…
These really are things you won’t find in your back home! That might be why so many tourists would like to spend their travel dollars here.
Gu Miao Hua Yuan –- Pristine Beauty of Flowers Live On Your Walls
This interesting little shop is tucked away in a 600-year-old building and offers exceptional Chinese flower paintings that have found their way into the homes of many Beijingers. It is just a short cab ride from Hwa Apratment Hotel.
In the shop, you’ll find paintings of plums, orchids, chrysanthemum, as well as bamboo; they all are the work of our master - Mr. Xie.
Mr. Xie owns this shop. He specializes in painting many flowers, but what he is the best at and he loves most is painting peony. He’s spent more than a decade observing the flower so as to create works that are true to nature.
Not everyone can accomplish such an achievement!
Upon your request, Mr. Frame works, and scroll works which is easier to carry, are both available in the shop.
Qing Ci Lan Ting – A Lovely Touch To Your Home
This interesting little shop with an old-fashioned façade carries a large collection of celadon products made in Longquan, a southern Chinese town knows as the hometown of celadon.
There you will find a nice array of products with designs that are rarely seen outside of China. For example, a bowl is engraved with a pair of fish that are unique to a small river in Longquan. Another teapot looks like a big river snail. It is very likely that you wouldn’t recognize it at first sight!
In fact, there is a little something for each and every home: a hat-style vase that is nice for holding roses, a pumpkin-shaped jar for placing CDs, and a lotus leaf platter for holding dishes, and so on.
Some products bear cracks. They are made by an ancient technique. New cracks keep showing up ever since a celadon ware is made, but the ware won’t break into pieces as the glaze holds it into one piece. The cracks only add up to a more gorgeous looking item.
Anyone who comes in will be served a cup of tea for free. The manager is a young, nice lady. Quite a celadon expert, she knows celadon well and is kind enough to tell whatever you hope to know.
