I met Ms. Han a few days ago, after I searching online for the information about fragrant pouches, I found her telephone number and found out she just opened a shop in Chengfu Street, selling handicrafts from the rural areas of Northwestern China.

It was an afternoon while the summer sun was scorching. But when I entered her little shop, I was immediately attracted by the numerous colorful charms hung on the wall and displayed on the shelves. The embroidered cloth items are most eye-catching. They come in different forms: toys, children's pillows, shoes, and of course, the fragrant pouches I was looking for. To my surprise, these beautiful little things made by country folks are very cheap. Each one only costs several RMBs.

After buying some fragrant pouches, I chatted with Ms. Han. I asked her about the name of her shop, "Little Rabbit". She told me it was because she was born in the year of the rabbit. Ms. Han then went on to say that she was once an English teacher, who visited many countries in the past. She said she opened this shop just to show people precious Chinese folk culture, which was disappearing with modernization and city migration.

Seeing me off, Ms. Han gave me a cute green cloth snake. She said she would visit the countryside of Northwestern China very soon to bring back new handmade items, as these little charms in her shop sold really fast.

For those who want to find nice decoration items for your sweet home or working office, I recommend ECI Art Gallery to you.

The shop is not far from the Forbidden City. It offers a selection of pottery pencil and flower vases, and ashtrays. The weirdly wonderful designs of their products really take me!

There I saw a Great Wall shaped pencil vase, with the famous Chairman Mao saying: He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man. The design is great yet practical! And it only costs RMB80.

I personally like the stone-shape vase, carved by an old Chinese slangs: where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise'. So I bought the vase for RMB 90 with a 10% off.

Also, I found a selection of yak-bone rings, turquoise-studded bracelets from Tibet, and colorful clothing from the Himalayan nation of Nepal. Prices vary, from RMB 30 for a string of rosary to several hundred RMBs for a Nepalese Saari.

Do you like to fly a kite? Do you know how to make a kite?Let's know more about kite on an exclusive kite-selling shop.

The Three Stone Kite has over one-hundred-years' history. Its first owner were used to make a living by making kites for rich people and social celebrities before the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. Now the shop passed down to his grandfather to operate the family business.

In order to make the best kite, The Three Stone Kite chooses the best material. The skeletons are made of superior bamboos which have been dried for three years. The silk for the kites comes from the southern China with wonderful quality.

All the kite here are symmetrical and meet certain flying principles, so that the kite can be brought up highly to the sky. The price for each kite is based on its timing consumption. Like the four red kites, they are in shape of four Chinese characters meaning "longevity, good luck, happiness, and prosperity", and cost very high.

Nowadays, the shop onwer, Mr Liu lives an extremely busy life. He not only takes care of the family business, but also travels around to teach, demonstrate his techniques, and even take part in some international culture exchange activities. He hopes kite-this kind of traditional artwork- can be passed down from generation to generation and spread out to every corner of the world.

On the west side of Wangfujing Street, lies a jewelry shop named Heng Fu Sheng, which means everlasting health and wealth in English. The shop mainly sells necklace pendants and bracelets.

On the necklace pendant section, I found a large variety of jadeite pendants in showcases. The designs included Buddha (fit for women), Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy, fit for men), and the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, such as rat, ox, tiger and rabbit.

The most appealing pendant to me was a Pixiu, the fortunate animal in Chinese legend. With a dragon's head, a deer's ears, a goat's horns, a lion's body, a phoenix's tail, a tiger's paws, and a pair of wings, a Pixiu can ward off evil and increase wealth for its owner. This Pixiu in jasper and yellow looked very exquisite and vivid. The price tag for it was RMB 2800, but customers could have it 60 percent off.

On the east side of Wangfujing Street lies a shop named Jianhua Fur and Leather. With a history of more than 80 years, the shop mainly carries high quality fur coats and leather jackets.

Entering the shop, I found out it has a spacious shopping area. The key section features the "Snowflake" leather jackets. A middle-aged female shop assistant told me that "Snowflake" is China's Time-honored Brand, and has won Good Quality Product Award many times. Customers buying the goods could enjoy 80 percent discount.

A black leather jacket caught my eye. It was in simple design, but the workmanship looked superb, and the leather very delicate. I touched it, and it felt very soft. The price tag for it was RMB 2580.

Other items on display include leather handbags, purses and wallets, and Tang suits (traditional Chinese attire). The shop also offers made-to-order service and fur coat processing service.

Located near the Forbidden City in inner of Beijing, Ya Xuan carries a large selection of traditional Chinese and old Beijing handicrafts, from cloth soles to Peking opera masks, clay figurines to Chinese knot.
Browsing through the shop, I can't resist picking up a grinning ‘Huan Xi Wa Wa' - ‘Happiness Doll'. People believe it brings good luck to a family, or life-long bond to a pair of newlyweds. Each sells around RMB 20.

There are also some pottery works of old Beijing residential gates. The weeds on gate roofs, the mottled bricks of the walls, and the worn-away footsteps, all these wake up my nostalgia! Each is priced RMB 150.

Other interesting items I'm sure you don't want to miss include the Peking opera masks and pendants. The Chinese zodiac or blessing creature pendants have different meanings. Fish represents ‘abundance', "Fu" symbols ‘blessing', and the boar is for ‘Happiness'. Each of pendants sells for RMB 50.

Handicrafts have become an essential cultural element of Beijing. So you can't miss the shop when in Beijing.

Located in the Drum Tower area, Guang Ming Ge offers a variety of Old Beijing baubles and knickknacks.

Entering the shop, I was first attracted by the Sir Rabbit', or Tu-Er-Yea' as its Beijingers nickname. The item features a colorfully dressed, cat-mounted rabbit with a human body. Legend tells the rabbit was a fairy pet from the moon. It came to rescue people from a plague striking throughout Beijing. The fairy pet later rode a cat so it could move around more quickly to help more people. Beijing People now offer fruits and cakes to it on the mid-autumn day to honor its good deed. Each Tu-Er-Yea' sells for RMB 30.

The shop carries a range of hutong photos, Great Wall clay, and so on. If you want to know the siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences, you should check these hutong photos. Each framed photo cost RMB 100.

Also, there are beautiful items such as white porcelain figurines, straw-weaving animals, opera mask pendant, Chinese zodiac amulet, to name just a few.

I have introduced many shops selling Tibetan gifts, and now I enlarge the extant to the whole Himalaya area, including  Nepal, Pakistan, India, Tibet, and even Russia.

Locatec in the Drum Tower, BaZha Tribe carries a wide variety of daily products from the above palces. Ms. Ma, the owner, was an experienced tourism editor. She introduced me a collection of Pakistani products: peach-wood fruit tray, boat-shape stoup with complex floral design, and candleholder that looks like a grape vine. Prices range from RMB 250 to RMB 1500.

Personally, I like the Nepalese woolen scarves and shawls. Handmade in a small town near Nepal's capital Katmandu, they are colorful, soft, and decorated with intricate motifs. Each sells around RMB 300. They are also the best seller in BaZha Tribe.

Products from Tibet include necklaces, rings, bracelets, prayer wheels, and Tangkas. Prices vary a lot, from RMB 30 to RMB 2000.

Ms. Ma speaks fluent English and French, and often travels to Himalaya region.

Near the Forbidden City, there is a shop, Mountain Gift, selling bamboo art from deep mountains.

Coming from XianNing, a mountainous city in HuBei Province where bamboo abounds, Mountain Gifts offers a large selection of bamboo books and sculptures.

The crafters of the shop use the ancient way to make bamboo books - carving on the narrow bamboo strips. The themes include Dream of Red Mansion, legendary tales of Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, 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 "Zhu Lin Qi Xian" - the seven famous literati of ideals and integrity of Jin Dynasty. The carving works were excellent, as you can see clearly the smallest details. Ms. Zhang, the owner, says a good bamboo sculpture work doesn't come easy. Qualified bamboo is hard to find and the shape of bamboo roots will also largely affect the sculpture making. The artwork is priced at about RMB 2,000.

Erdos is known as the most famous wool-maker in China. When I want to buy warm and high quality woolen sweater, I will go to the Aoqun branch specializing in woolen sweaters sales near Beijing West Railway Station.

You will not fail to notice the eye-catching red façade of Aoqun. Inside, I found a good selection of sweaters for both men and women. With the coming of spring, they had a 20% discount on all sweaters inside.

I examined two sweaters in particular. First was a red round-collar women's sweater made of pure wool is decorated with shining crystal-shaped buttons. It had a discount price of RMB 270. The other was plain red V-neck sweater for men (RMB 388 after discount). Both had solid stitching and felt comfortable to the touch.

Apart from sweaters, Aoqun also sells woolen underpants and scarf, priced at RMB 110 and RMB 350 respectively.

Originated from 4000 years ago, the Chinese folk art - dough figurine, or Mian Ren in Chinese, is made of purified wheat flour, glutinous rice flour, bee honey, and glycerin.

Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer dough figurine artists in Beijing. So I was very exciting to find so many cute and exquisite dough figurines on the second floor of Baigong Handicrafts Museum.

There is large selection of dough figurines in the shop. Each figure, setting foot on a small wooden pedestal, is kept in a glass box.

I was enthralled by the figurine featuring two kids in ancient clothes watching cricket fighting. It is sold at RMB 260. Another one I like best was the God of Longevity. With long, white beard and brows, the smiling God wears a yellow robe. He holds a big peach in his left hand, and a long crutch in right. It cost 180 yuan.

The elderly female shop assistant told me that most of these handicrafts are made by Mr. You, a dough figurine master. His works have a prominent feature that every small figure has a talking, vivid facial expression. She also noted that a dough figurine should be kept from sunshine. In this way, the colors of the dough figurines will not fade for at least 20 years.

Paper-cut is a time-honored Chinese folk art. In the past, people used to post red-colored paper-cut works on doors, windows or furniture as decoration, hoping to keep from evils and enjoy happy life.

Nowadays, artisans endow the folk art with more colorful ideas and modern interpretations. Much more complicated designs of paper-cut have been created by a pair of skillful hands, paper and scissors.

I visited the paper-cut shop on the second floor of Baigong Handicraft Museum. Walking into the shop, I was shocked that a thin piece of paper could be turned into such delicate artworks with shapes of landscape, ancient characters, birds and flower...

I like the Chinese Zodiac bookmarks very much. The twelve animals look vividly and lovely. A set costs only RMB 38.

The owner, also a paper-cut master, introduced that most of the items in the shop are under RMB 100. And you can still negotiate with the owner.

Together with jade ware, carved ivory, and cloisonné, lacquer ware is rated as one of "the great four traditional handicraft" in China. Originated 1500 years ago, lacquer, a black or red resinous substance, was used to coat artwork or furniture. Then, on the surface of the layers, attractive patterns were carved by artists.

On my visit to Baigongfang Handicraft Museum in Beijing, I found this Beijing lacquer art shop on the second floor.

Half of their articles are red-colored carved lacquer plates mounted upon a small, black wooden bracket separately. The designs, such as the Great Wall, dragon and phoenix, are very delicate.

I saw other carved lacquer items, like red-colored peony-covered caskets and small sculptures in shapes of elephants and unicorns. But what impressed me most was a wooden pair of lions. Each of them squats on a stone, with mouth widely open. They are so vividly curved as if they will jump down the stone and chase upon you. The twin lions are priced at RMB 460.