There are large numbers of handicraft shops in Beijing. But it is not that easy to find a great one with nice prices. So I was very happy coming across Good Old Days near the Forbidden City.

Carrying over 100 categories of finely selected traditional Chinese handicrafts, Good Old Days has been in the business for almost a decade. From clay baubles to cloth cats, wood paintings to zodiac pendants, everything brings some old-time touch.

In the of clay products section, I picked up a small, stripped-color kitty with its tail cocking up. This lovely animal, as the owner told me, has been popular with ladies to place rings. It only sells for RMB 20.

There are two dozens of Chinese shadow puppets in the puppet section. Made of donkey or ox leather, those little figures are used for shadow play or home decoration. Each sells around RMB 150.

On the walls are some wood painting worked by a friend of the shop owner. The paintings portrait elegant ladies of old times, reflecting their loneliness and solitude after polygamy marriage. Each is priced at RMB 400.

The owner is a native Beijinger, who speaks fluent English and would like to share their insights on Chinese culture with foreign friends.

Chinese New Year's wood block painting is a type of picture posted during the Spring Festival. In the past, you may find them on the windows and doors of every home as the Spring Festival approached. The natural and simple strokes, created by farmer, expresses their simple desires,
like wishing for good luck for the coming year and warding off evil spirits.

Color Together, located in Drum Tower, is a newly opened shop selling the Chinese specialty. The shop owner, Mr Yi, developed love for this art because he was born in a town famous for Spring Festival painting. Mr Yi told me almost every painting has its story, like this "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, they would tie him up to feed the tiger. Later people drew portraits of Shen Tu and Yu Lei on windows and doors, to ward off unwelcome 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.

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.

Located near the Forbidden City, there is a famous Jun ware shop. It has high reputation among Jun ware connoisseurs and collectors in Beijing. Even I am not a fan of Jun, I know the shop.

The shop offers a selection of Jun porcelain made in Yu County in Henan, where the Jun kiln site was excavated 3 decades ago. Mr. Wang, the shop owner and noted connoisseur, speaks fluent German. He was fancied by Jun porcelain and the making technique - Furnace Transmutation. The technique could make iridescent chinaware by the irregular application of glaze.

In the shop, I saw a mountain-theme dish. But after the Furnace Transmutation process, a Santa iamge popped up unexpectedly. This is the magic of Furnace Transmutation. Before the process finished, it would be unable to know what patterns you are going to have. The dish costs around RMB2,500.

Though most of the products copy traditional designs, there are some modern patterns. Two bottle vases with bronze lace and flames are actually designed by Mr. Han Meilin, who creates Fuwa Olympic mascots. Each of the vase sells for around RMB 3,000.

Koji pottery was originated from Guangdong province back in Qing Dynasty. Traditionally the pottery was applied as temple and shrine adornments; however, koji pottery is now becoming a world famous style of folk art for its variety of soft colors and designs.

I visited the Koji pottery shop in Baigong Handicraft Museum. Combining the art of molding, engraving, painting and firing, all the works in the shop were colorful and lively.

What I like most were these differently posed little lions of white, blue, yellow and golden colors. The shop assistant told me they are made in Taiwan and sold at RMB 300 each.

The shop also carries some Tang Sancai pottery wares, or tri-color-glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty. Like the vivid horse figures in various stances cost RMB 160 each. While a small wooden folding screen with six tourism spots Beijing: the Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park, the Summer Palace, and the Fragrant Hill Park, is also amazing. It is priced at RMB 120.

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.

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.

Cloisonné, or "Jing Tai Lan" in Chinese, is kind of decorative enamelwork in which metal filaments are fused to the surface of an object to outline a design that is filled in with enamel paste. Introduced from Arab in the late 13th century, the art became popular in Ming Dynasty.

Last week on my visit to Baigong Handicraft Museum, I found this cloisonné shop on the second floor. On the shelves against walls displayed a variety of colorful cloisonné vases. Among them, the most appealing one to me was called "Maple Leaves", featuring many red maple leaves and golden-outlined clouds vividly spreading over the white color vase. The item costs RMB 1600.

In a showcase, I also found some small, inexpensive handicrafts. Like the white horse with golden hooves and beautiful flower patterns on its body is sold at about RMB 200.

In the midst of the room, I see two middle-aged women making cloisonné articles. They said a piece of cloisonné article requires 37 procedures such as body shaping, filigree making, enameling, heating, and gilding.

Ranked as one of the eight consummate arts of Beijing, it is good idea to buy some cloisonné artworks home when you travel in the capital.

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.

A few days ago I visited a calligraphy shop in Dong Fang Gu Yuan Art Market. There I met Mr. Ma Wen Yuan, the owner of the shop and a famous calligraphist.

His shop holds a large amount of Chinese paintings and calligraphy. Mr. Ma told me he started to learn calligraphy at the age of 8 when he had no teacher. So he learned by copying the works of the famous calligraphists. One of his teachers in the primary school was amazed at his handwriting and gave him a nickname: Wen Yuan, which means the origin of calligraphy. This name encouraged him to strive to be a great calligraphist. Everyday he spends at least 2 hours on practicing. For the past 60 years, calligraphy has been the greatest pleasure in his life.

Mr. Ma can write one character in 25 different ways, but he personally prefers the cursive style. I noticed his wide range of styles while looking around. Some show vigor and strength, while some exhibit simple elegance.

Before I left his shop I asked him if he could write something on the spot for me to see. He satisfied my requirements. While watching his writing, I said to myself: without numerous practice years after years, how a person can demonstrate such wonderful skills of calligraphy?

Mr. Ma Wen Yuan is present at his shop almost every day. As a friendly old man, he would love to share his experience in the art of calligraphy with everyone who visits his shop.