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Visit factories only to see how things are made and to study quality. Some tours on the way to the Great Wall stop at the cloisonné factory, the China Beijing North Suburbs Industrial Art Factory, Ding Fu Huang Zhuang, Shahe, Tel. 69732942, 697374 17. It is 20 minutes south of the Ming Tombs, open 8am-6pm, and takes major credit cards. Do get a look at the manufacturing process. It’s interesting.. ;
A pearl factory is also on the way to the Great Wall, its wares cultured in the Miyun Reservoir. You get only the opening of one mussel, a come-on for this over-priced store. The telephone number of the jade Carving factory is 67128899,and the Beijing Arts and Crafts Wood Carving Factory is 67110006.
For antiques, the best bargains are at the weekend Ghost/Dirt Market on Panjiayuan Road, two blocks west of Second Ring Road, behind the Le You Hotel, west and north of the imposing Henan Building. Private dealers lay goods out on tables under a huge roof. Go early (about 5:30am on a weekend) for the best selection and smaller crowds. The place is jammed at 10am and dealers start to pack up about 3pm. This street market is full of reproductions and fakes, ethnic textiles, stone carvings, wood carvings, porcelains, etc. but people with a good eye can find real treasures especially if they haggle well and don’t mind being hassled and pushed and subjected to cigarette smoke. No credit cards nor receipts available. Permanent stalls are here too and open daily 9am-6pm.
Collections of other small private dealers are at the Beijing Curio City(Guwanchung), behind the Duty-Free Store, the west side of Hua Wei Qiao Bridge, Dongsanhuan, open 9:30am-6:30pm. It has escalators and three stories of shops: curios, pearls, furniture, jewelry, silver, paintings, and embroideries. Tel.67747711
For up market antiques, Palace and Forbidden City trte Shangri-La and have good stores. The Grand Hotels, Summer Friendship Store also has some good pieces. For large Buddhas, look in the shop at the back of the Ghost Market. Owners of stalls everywhere will sometimes close their doors and produce some illegaI Tang or Song dynasty pieces. The Huaxia Antique Store is at 293 Wangfujing Avenue, and open 9am-7pm. This government store has lots of porcelains, carvings, rugsi etc. and you can get an official red wax seal and receipt for purchases. It is more reliable than the markets.
The largest collection of stores of stores selling real antiques, reproduciton and fakes, and arts and crafts, is Liulichang(on both sides of Xuanwumeng Wai Avenue),the main street where the buses stop. It is open roughly 10am.-5:30 or 6pm, later in summer. This is more expensive and has better goods generally than the markets and stalls and is less crowded. It also has art books(mainly in Chinese). You could spend hours poking around.
In 1277, artisans made glazed tiles here. In the Qing, it was a market with 140 shops selling the same sort of arts it does today, including reproductions of paintings, the Dunhuang murals, bronzes, and porcelains. In the old days, some of the merchandise was stolen form the Forbidden City and other wealthy homes. Small shops are also next to, and behind, the Rong Bao Zhai art store on the west side at No. 64. Try Xie Yan Fang at No.3 with great embroideries and old books at reasonable price. Tel. 63017979.
Copies of traditional Chinese painting abound in every tourist spot by the ton. Famous local contemporary art is now worth collecting as many Chinese artists are commanding six-figure-prices for their works. You might want to start collecting lesser known artists now and hope they will become famous. Already well known internationally are Fang Lijin and Cai Guoqing. Important are Qi Zhilong, Su Xinping, Wang Yuping, Sui Jianguo, Lu Ping, Zhang Hongbo, Wan Huangxlang, and Qi Zhilong. Consider local Beijing artists Sun Gang Hua, Huang Gang, and Zeng Fan Zhi.
The Red Gate Gallery, Watchtower, Dongbianmen, Chongwenmen is a serious artist enclave. It is privately run by Brian Wallace with a stable of 22 artists.
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