Shopping in Beijing – Liulichang Street

Strolling down Liulichang Street is a pleasant way to spend a morning. It’s divided in half by busy Nanxinhua Street, but you quickly get away from the traffic down either side of Liulichang’s pedestrian alley. Famous as a gathering place in ancient times for scholars, poets and artists, Liulichang now boasts a plethora of book shops, calligraphy suppliers, galleries and curio sellers.Liulichang Street is just southwest of Tian’anmen Square. Hepingmen Metro stop is the nearest station. From Hepingmen station, walk south on Nanxinhua Street until hit Liulichang Street. Nanxinhua Street divides Liulichang in half so you can start on either the west side "xijie" or east side "dongjie" and cross over to do the rest.Daily 9am-6pmIn Mandarin, the market is called Liu li chang. This is pronounced: "leeoh lee chahng".

It's rather a mouthful. Your best bet is to show your hotel concierge the name in English and he will be able to communicate to your taxi driver. (Don't forget to take a taxi card from your hotel so you can get back with your treasures!)

Please, don't be fooled by the offers of "antiques". Chinese purveyors are experts at making fakes look like ancient treasures dug up and on sale for a fraction of what you'd pay at Sotheby's. Unless you are a dealer in Chinese artifacts and have years of experience, trust me, you won't be able to tell the difference, and even the dealers get fooled. The best thing to do is go with and open mind, a limited budget and a few ideas about what you'd like to have.Some say offer 10% of what the vendor is asking, some say 25% and work up from there. In my experience, the best thing to do is make some snap decisions and then start the negotiations at the low end.

• Decide if you really want it. It's hard to extract a real price so you'll have to bargain to get close.
• Decide how much you're willing to pay. How much is it worth to you?
• Walk away. Sometimes it works...but be prepared when it doesn't. You may find the item again, but you may not.
• Bargaining 101: Eight Rules and Two Myths About Shopping in China will give you more guidance to shopping and bargaining.

I had a lot of fun at my most recent trip to Liulichang. I discovered a wonderful book shop called (in rough translation) the Chinese Ancient Book Store and bought a reproduction of a 1936 Beijing Map and a fun coffee table book called Chinese Stuff that explains a lot of Chinese everyday items. Liulichang West Alley (Xijie) #34.

I fell in love with a Chinese painting of Sun Wu-Kong, the legendary monkey king, but decided it was beyond my budget (and the shop keeper wasn’t budging). Gallery Sun Jie, Liulichang Xijie Building 57, #102.

I found a lovely couple selling paintings and curios and bought a set of the characters from the epic Journey to the West (including Sun Wu-Kong) for my son. Pu Lan Arts, Liulichang Dongjie #115.

Here’s a short list of the types of things you’ll find at Liulichang.

• Tea shops selling tea and Yixing teapots
• Book stores stocking art books and calligraphy books by the masters
• Curio shops selling chinoiserie and lots of junk
• Galleries selling Chinese paintings and scrolls
• Antiques dealers selling everything from life-size terracotta warriors to miniature jade carvings. Don't forget my warning about "antiques" (see above "avoiding fakes").