Moms Travel TipsTravel Tips and Vacation Ideas for the Whole Family

Beijing is a great city for shopping with its tens of thousands of state-of-art malls for residents and tourists alike. But one street in particular is right next to some of Beijing’s most famous hotels, and it keeps the style of the old.

Imagine such a place where you will be offered the sense of age, where you can get lost in a sea of antiques and traditional Chinese handicrafts. Beijing’s Liulichang Street enjoys a history that goes back to the early Ming dynasty in the 1500s, and there’s no shortage of artisans around here.

Since several hundred years ago, the street has been one of Beijing’s most trodden places for shopping. Today people walk through Liulichang to shop for paintings, antiques, fans, jade, embroideries, tea sets, and all kinds of Chinese 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 secret lies in the special material they use for the pots: Yixing purple clay, which is porous and absorbent.

The clay is unique to Yixing, and the shop carries a large collection of purple clay teapots they made themselves. 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! No wonder so many foreign tourists were willing to buy a few.

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 ride away from the Hwa Apartment Hotel. 

There are paintings of plums, orchids, chrysanthemum flowers, and bamboo; all are the skillful work of our master – Mr. Xie.

Mr. Xie owns this shop. Despite he paints on all flowers, what he is best at is still peony, the flower that fascinates him the most. To create peonies that are true to nature, he’s spent over a decade observing the flower.

This is the fine work of potters using an ancient celadon-making technique!

There are both frame and easy-to-take scroll works offered 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 be fond of a selection of products with designs found nowhere outside of China. The engravings of bowl, for example, is inspired by a special type of fish found only in a small river in Longquan. A big river snail is what another teapot looks like. It looks so real that you wouldn’t recognize it as a teapot at first glance!

Frankly, there is a little something for everyone looking for something unique to display at home: a hat-shaped vase for holding roses, a pumpkin-like jar for storing CDs, a lotus leaf-style platter for holding food, and so on.

Cracks are found on some products. This is the fine work of potters using an ancient celadon-making technique. The body continues to crack after a celadon is done, but stands as one thanks to the glaze. The cracks only add to the beauty of the item.

The shop also provides free tea to visitors who might get thirsty from a day of shopping. 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.