shopping exploring new beijing

Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2009

Shopping and Exploring "New" Beijing

The first stop for shopping was the Hong Qiao Pearl market, near the Temple of Heaven. This is the most professional pearl market in Beijing, and the best market for wholesale pearls. I had designs of what I wanted and after bargaining for a price, had some jade and pearl necklaces made up. The "splurge" was red jade and pearls, fabulous! Click on the necklace to see them and more.

So while they were being made, we shopped around and purchased other interesting pearl pendants, bracelets and necklaces, different designs to try. YYJ is "jade", so I wanted mostly pearls and jade for what I bought. I bought several pearls only jewelry for myself, friends, gifts. I even found some "pearl powder" and purchased a few packs. Sometimes customers ask if I have pearl powder, and I usually don't sell it because I never know exactly what it is and don't want to sell a product that will cause a problem for someone, but I tried this pearl powder and found it excellent.

I purchased a new design from a very classy Chinese lady, and while she was showing me how to test for good pearl quality, I took a photo with the purpose of also showing her jade bangle bracelet. This is the kind of jade the Chinese people regard as the best and most traditional kind, soft color and mostly green. Her jade bangle was very pretty.

Pearls are almost as heavy as jade to carry around, and we went back to the hotel, and met with Charles Li, our Beijing friend. He took us to Huhai Lake area, which is really interesting because it was "old China" that the government tore down to make it modern, but then tourists didn't have any "Chinese style" places to go, so they build new "old Chinese" shops, restaurants, bars, and now it's a foreign area.

One of the things I noticed is that local Chinese people seem to have better teeth these day, and I saw quite a few "friendly" dental clinics as we traveled through the streets of Beijing. Dentistry used to be a street side event, with questionable results, now Chinese people can get decent dental care, a definite advantage of modern China.

Then to the Lama Temple, the only Buddhist temple that wasn't destroyed during the Cultural Revolution because it was protected as a National Treasure. It's a Tibetan Buddhist temple, and a training temple for monks. There's a lot of controversy of Tibetan Buddhism, who is the real Dali Lama, the one we know or the one the Chinese government appointed. This time was an anniversary of China taking over Tibet, and there was a video on Youtube that showed Chinese police beating monks, which the government claimed was a "fake" video. But because of this, Youtube web site was blocked by the government, so I couldn't upload the videos I made to show on the web site. I think the Lama Temple, or Yong He Gong, is a must see if you go to Beijing. Photos of the Buddhas are not allowed, and they are truly wonderful, one of the Buddhas is carved from a tree and the largest Buddha in a temple in China.

And one of the best things about Beijing is the Peking duck dinner, which of course we had. It's very unique, and the Chinese people get upset when you don't eat it correctly. I was picking up some crispy skin and eating it with chopsticks, and the waiter came over and took a pancake, put it on my plate, took a piece of duck and dipped it in sauce and spread it on the pancake, added the scallions, rolled it with chopsticks, the picked it up with chopsticks. THAT'S how you're supposed to eat it. So I did because our friend looked at our not eating it that way anxiously, as if we could only enjoy it "properly". The head is also served, neatly cut in half, and is considered a delicacy. Tom and I passed on the treat, and Charles was delighted to enjoy it all by himself. All of the duck bones are boiled into a tasty soup, looks strange but tastes wonderful and is loaded with calcium. I would rather eat the soup than take osteoporosis medicine!

And oh my, has Dazhilan street changed! It's clean! But all the interesting shops where I used to buy interesting jade things, the estate and pre-worn jades, are gone and there are modern (and expensive) shops now. But Tong Ren Tang, Beijing's oldest pharmacy, and the tea store, are still there, so I got enough tea to last a year, the best quality, most expensive, and I will enjoy it for months.

When I watched the races during the Olympic games, I noticed a "new" street, (Qianmen) that I didn't recognize, but as soon as we turned on this street, I remembered seeing it on television. It was a wonderful old shopping street that was torn down and a sort of European street rebuilt. The storefronts were all very modern, the street large, wide and clean, with a trolley that ran to both ends, and what was so strange was that it was already looking old and run down, because of all the storefronts, only a handful were rented. Very strange. I thought about the entire community that was torn about to build these unattractive buildings, that aren't even used, and look run down already. Wang Fu Jing street has changed tremendously, too. I have stayed in hotels on Wang Fu Jing during all my trips, but chose a different location this time and was regretting it, but when we visited Wang Fu Jing, it had changed so much I was glad we didn't stay there. Everything is so modern, the only shopping is high end designer stores with Western/international goods. All the foot massage shops are gone, there's no shops to buy drinking water, beverages, snacks…all gone. Yes, it's modern, but is has lost all it's Chinese charm. Well, that's the "new China"

Food street, exotic food, grows longer each year

Next: Temple of Heaven Park, and more Beijing