Beijing's Forbidden City Blog: Travel, Hotels, Sightseeing Guide

Silver Jewels In The Heart Of The City

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:35:58 -0500

For silver jewels, The Miao are one of the most fascinating ethnic minorities in China. Recently, I found a Miao handicrafts shop on Yandai Xiejie. I was impressed by their silver ornaments and wax printing works.

The shop owner Mr. Zhang was dressed in the Miao traditional dress. He told me that Miao silver ornaments have a history of 400 years. The Miao have a variety of items that can brighten up your look from head to toe: silver headdresses, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, clothing accessories, waistbands, and anklets.

Miao girls are very partial to silver jewelry, as they see silver as a symbol of purity. And according to Miao customs, the larger, heavier, and more plentiful silver ornaments are considered the most beautiful.

Mr. Zhang showed me a pair of silver earrings. They feature long, beautiful twin birds. The silver threads are as thin as hair. Every detail is so fine.

The headdresses looked pretty heavy. I was afraid to wear any one of them, and it’s not a good idea if you have a slender neck.

The blue cloth items with white patterns are actually wax printings. The patterns show beautiful flowers and Miao girls.

The cloth is made in a unique way: they draw an image on a piece of fabric with wax, and dip the fabric into a vat that contains dark blue dye. The parts of the fabric with wax cannot be dyed, so it will show off a gorgeous white pattern when the wax is removed.

At last, here’s a tip to identify a real wax printing: Take a close look at a real wax painting work, you will find a number of fine, irregular blue crackles on the white area. They are caused when folding the wax-covered area, and the blue dye seizes the opportunity to permeate through the cracks.

Silver Jewels and Chinese ethnic products near the Forbidden City

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:36:40 -0500

caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Beijing Deep Mountains Bamboo Art Studio Near The Forbidden City"/captionYu Hai Ying Zhou is an excellent shop for fans of Chinese ethnic products. Located behind the Palace museum of the Forbidden City near the Beijing Redwall Hotel, it carries a wide selection of deep Chinese ethnic handicrafts and accessories.

Most accessories, like sofa cushions, tea sets, tablecloths, Chinese knots, and china vases, make for wonderful interior decoration.

While the handicrafts cover a wide variety of items from silk handbags to Shanxi shadow puppets.

I found the shop assistants, who speak a little English, easy to engage. They recommended, among other things, the shadow puppets coming from Shannxi, the home province of leather-silhouette show. They also said the Miao silver jewels are a must have.

This ancient art uses puppets made of donkey or ox leather to create shadows on a piece of white cloth, with performers behind the scene controlling the action.

The puppets can be surprisingly detailed, such as a framed ‘General’ Puppet on display (RMB 120).

Two items I personally liked were an embroidered silk pillow(RMB 65) and a silk handbag (RMB 60).

The pillow felt very soft, and had a delicate fragrance. The silk handbag looked beautiful and would make a great gift.

Beijing Deep Mountains Bamboo Art Studio Near The Forbidden City

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:17:14 -0500

caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption=" Beijing Deep Mountains Bamboo Art Studio Near The Forbidden City"/caption‘Da Shan Qing’ — Mountain Gifts, is a famous brand selling bamboo art near the Forbidden City and Beijing Emperor Hotel in Beijing.

Coming from XianNing, a mountainous city where bamboos are abundant, Mountain Gifts offers a large selection of bamboo books and sculptures.

The crafters of the shop use the ancient way to make bamboo books – by hand-carving on the narrow bamboo strips.

Their themes include Dream of Red Mansion, legend of Eight Immortals, Chairman Mao’s snow poem, and Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Each piece sells around RMB 300.

In the bamboo sculpture section, I was enthralled by the sculpture of “Zhu Lin Qi Xian” – the seven famous scholars of the 3 Kingdoms era.

The carving works were excellent, as I could see clearly the smallest details. Ms. Zhang, the owner, said a good bamboo sculpture doesn’t come easy.

Qualified bamboo is hard to find and the shape will largely affect the sculpture process. That particular artwork is priced at about RMB 2,000.

The shop also offers little bamboo products, such as jars, dishes, food baskets, spoons, and trays.

Beijing Da Shan Qing Mountain Gifts

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:10:42 -0500

caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Beijing Deep Mountains Bamboo Art Studio Near The Forbidden City"/caption‘Da Shan Qing’ — Mountain Gifts, is a famous brand selling bamboo art near the Forbidden City and The Emperor Hotel in Beijing.

Coming from XianNing, a mountainous city where bamboos are abundant, Mountain Gifts offers a large selection of bamboo books and sculptures.

The crafters of the shop use the ancient way to make bamboo books – by hand-carving on the narrow bamboo strips.

Their themes include Dream of Red Mansion, legend of Eight Immortals, Chairman Mao’s snow poem, and Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Each piece sells around RMB 300.

In the bamboo sculpture section, I was enthralled by the sculpture of “Zhu Lin Qi Xian” – the seven famous scholars of the 3 Kingdoms era.

The carving works were excellent, as I could see clearly the smallest details. Ms. Zhang, the owner, said a good bamboo sculpture doesn’t come easy.

Qualified bamboo is hard to find and the shape will largely affect the sculpture process. That particular artwork is priced at about RMB 2,000.

The shop also offers little bamboo products, such as jars, dishes, food baskets, spoons, and trays.

Two Faces of Embroidery Near Beijing Tobacco Pipe Lane

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:35:34 -0500

caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Two Faces of Embroidery"/caption
Suzhou Embroidery is one of the four most renowned embroidery techniques in China, dating back over 2000 years.

Chi Lin Embroidery, located on Tobacco Pipe Lane near the Beijing Ning Xia Hotel, holds an abundance of Suzhou Embroidery featuring delicate needlework and intricate images.

I was most enamored with their double-sided embroideries. Take a particular piece called “Cats on Both Sides”. When you look at one side, the cat is in green and white.

But turn to the other side, and the color became yellow and white. Another piece managed to stitch the image of two leopards on one side, and an image of two tigers on the other.

The owner of the shop is a Suzhou local, with her very own factory there. Everything in the shop comes from her factory.

She says the big difference among Suzhou Embroidery and embroidery in other areas is its unique stitching.

Sometimes 20 different silk threads are needed to make just the shadow on the face of a portrait.

And a piece of silk thread is divided into as many as 48 pieces until the thread is hardly visible.
The shop takes custom orders. Their artists will tackle any image you wish to see embroidered.

Neiliansheng, the Most Famous and Historic Shoeshop in Beijing

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:17:14 -0500

caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=" Neiliansheng, the Most Famous and Historic Shoeshop in Beijing"/captionNeiliansheng Shoeshop is located at Dashilar near the Beijing Redwall Hotel, a well-known old commercial street in Beijing. Neiliansheng is one of the China’s time-honored brands.

Many famous Chinese leaders, such as Chairman Mao, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, had their feet shoed in Neiliansheng.

A bit history

Neiliansheng was established by high-ranking official Zhao Ting, and by General Ding in 1853 (Qing Dynasty). The two partners raised ten thousand taels of silver, and opened the shoeshop.

The name Neiliansheng means that wearing these shoes one could get promoted continuously three levels at the Qing imperial court.

Neiliansheng shoes are exquisitely made from superior materials, and famous at home and abroad for their comfort and durability.

The shoemaker has won many awards in competitions.

Shopping at Neiliansheng

In its current incarnation, Neiliansheng is a modern shop with traditional Chinese architecture features.

Outside of the three-storey building, you can see two big black-colored plaques with three golden Chinese characters Neiliansheng are hung above outside the first and the second floors separately.

When you enter the shop, you can see another huge black plaque with seven golden Chinese characters meaning ‘the First Cloth Shoe Shop in China’.

On the first floor, handmade cloth shoes, children’s shoes, slippers and high-grade leather shoes are on display.

On the right behind the entrance, there is a showcase in which the shoes Chinese leaders wore are on show.

Neiliansheng fashion cloth shoes, brand cloth shoes, and children’s shoes series are sold on the second floor.

In addition, the shop features an exhibition hall with a theme “Celebrities and Cloth Shoes”.

The third floor is reserved to leather shoes, brand leather shoes and top hats.

Prices

A pair of Neiliansheng cloth shoes costs RMB 148 ~ 325; a pair of Neiliansheng handmade men’s leather shoes costs RMB 898.

What customers appreciate

According to the shop assistants I talked to, the shop is visited from time to time by foreign clients. They appreciate the cloth shoes with traditional designs and historical reputation.

They often buy cloth shoes as souvenirs or gifts as well.

Wood paintings to celebrate Chinese New Year

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:24:39 -0500

caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption=" Wood paintings to celebrate Chinese New Year"/caption
Chinese New Year’s woodblock painting is a type of picture commonly posted during the Spring Festival.

In the past, you may find them on windows and doors of almost every home before the Spring Festival.

The natural and simple strokes, created by simple farmers, express their simple desires for the upcoming year.

Color Together, located in Drum Tower near Beijing Emperor Hotel , is a newly opened shop selling this Chinese specialty.

The shop owner, Mr Yi, developed a love for this art because he was born in a town famous for Spring Festival paintings. He happily shared the paintings’ stories.

I really liked the story of the “Door God”. According to legends, two brothers called Shen Tu and Yu Lei supervised ghosts and monsters.

If a monster wanted to harm a human, the brothers would tie the monster up to feed the tiger. Later people drew portraits of Shen Tu and Yu Lei on windows and doors, to ward off unwelcomed guests.

I found the delicate Chinese doll very attractive. It depicts a smiling Chinese doll with a scroll in her hand. The words on the scroll means harmony.

This design came from the beautiful city of Su Zhou, and one of the most famous wood block paintings in China. This is difficult to find Su Zhou’s painting nowadays.

Prices are modest. Smaller works tend to be under a hundred yuans. While more complicated works cost several hundred yuans.

Original Ecology Pu’er Tea Shop Near The Tian'anmen Square

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:57:51 -0500

: Beijing Puer Tea Shop Near The Tian

Known as the “health-giving tea” and “beauty-slimming tea” in China, Puer tea is something you won’t regret trying out.

This famous tea from the Yunnan province of southern China gives you both taste and health benefits.

For tea-loving tourists, the large Yunnan Pu’er Tea Market offers convenient location near the Tian’anmen Square near a lot of Beijing hotels .

It is here on the second floor where I found Leyuanyu Pu’er Tea Shop.

The shopkeeper, Mr. Wang, warmly invited me to sit down and sample their fermented and unfermented teas.

Decorated with unique items from the hometown of Pu’er tea, Leyuanyu provided me a great tea-tasting experience.

The stone elephants, wooden decorations, and green plants soon led me into a relax state.

Fermented tea looks red, and tastes kinda sweet. Unfermented tea looks like amber. They taste somewhat bitter at first, but give a sweet after-taste.

Mr. Wang said all their Pu’er tea comes from naturally grown trees without any human interference. They offer two famous brands: “National Chinese” and “Image of Washan Mountain”.

The former has won many prizes in Pu’er tea competitions.

Looking around, I found a wide variety of compressed Pu’er tea on display. The compressed nature makes them easy to carry.

Some even come in nice small packages fit for presents or souvenirs. Prices are reasonable.

One particular 250g “Tea Horse Ancient Road Pu’er Brick Tea” cost only RMB 50, for instance.

Tasting Rare Tea At Beijing Tea Researcher

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:50:16 -0500

: Beijing Tea Researcher

If you like Chinese tea, you won’t regret paying a visit to Tea Researcher near a lot of Beijing hotels. The shop offers many types of tea, from various tea planting regions in Asia, and also from Europe and Africa.

Until then this tea shop has opened less than a dozen branches in Beijing.

I was at first attracted by a tea gift box composed of two packages of Dahongpao (大红袍).

Dahongpao is one of the rare and excellent Wulong teas (often spelled Oolong) and its price is pretty expensive.

According to the tea shop assistant (who could speak a little English), the variety of Dahongpao carried by the shop is of a high quality. Its prices range from RMB 65 per 15g to RMB 238 per 60g.

Tea Researcher packages their teas in different hues: the green tag denotes Chinese tea, the purple one is reserved for Japanese and Korean teas.

European and African teas are packaged in blue and brown boxes respectively.

The shop assistant recommended both Dahongpao and Dongding Wulong, a tea harvested and fermented in Taiwan.

The taste of Wulong tea is even more magnificent when you infuse it in a Zisha teapot (Zisha a special mineral deposit which is ground to make a paste with which skilled craftsmen make very exclusive teapots).

She also told me Mocha (抹茶) imported from Japan would benefit a girl’s skin. Sencha (煎茶), another popular tea from Japan, has a little sweet and freshly green taste.

Prices range from RMB 50 per 15g up to RMB 300 per 60g. More expensive gift boxes were priced at over RMB 500. No bargaining.

Beijing Dehua Porcelain Outlet Near Forbidden City

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:48:21 -0500

: Dehua Porcelain Outlet Near Forbidden City

Located at the northwest of Jianguomen Bridge near a lot of Beijing hotels , Dehua Porcelain Outlet specializes in both the famous white and red porcelain made in Dehua County, Fujian Province.

Outside the shop there’s a red sign that reads “China White”, “China” here means porcelain.

Dehua, Jingdezhen of Jiangxi Province and Liling of Hunan Province ranks the three biggest capitals of Porcelain in China.

Dehua is famous for its time-honored white porcelain and modern unique red porcelain.

Dehua white porcelain originated in the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960~1279). It has made tremendous strides ever since the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368~1644).

It features white color, semi-transparency and shining glaze. So the white porcelain has earned the names of China White, Ivory White or Cream White.

In the shop, a lot of white porcelain works are on display, for instance, the statue of Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy). The most impressive one is entitled “the Soul of Chrysanthemum”.

Its pendant filaments are so slight that it has to be kept from touching in a showcase.

Dehua red porcelain is a modern outcome through generations’ effort. In traditional Chinese culture, red color represents happiness, auspiciousness and prosperity.

Many red porcelain wares have been sent to foreign dignitaries as national treasures. These exhibits will bring you strong visual impact.

Both Dehua white and red porcelain are of great value. Their prices start from several thousand yuan.

In addition, the shop also carries porcelain wares made in Dehua for daily use, including tea sets, coffee cups & saucers, salt & pepper shakers, bowls & plates.

Price for a set of exquisite tea sets including one tea pot and six tea cups is RMB 300.