Hand-painted fans have a long history in China, and are still popular today. They are not only used in summer, but good gifts on any occasion. In a famous street lined up with lots of painting, calligraphy, antique shops, I found a shop Jing Hua Fan House.

Mr. Shen, the shop owner, is a gifted artist. He would paint on fans in front of your very eyes.  There are two different types of fans: traditional court silk ones, and folded paper ones. The court silk fans are designed for women. I especially noticed one round silk fan featuring a beautiful plum blossom. In China this is the symbol of  purity and fortitude. The folded paper fans are used by men. They are characterized by vivid paintings on the front and calligraphies on the back.

Prices are around RMB 100.

The shop also displays a large collection of clay figurines and framed paintings. Prices range from RMB 100 to RMB 200.

What I appreciate:

beautiful handmade fans of good quality

What customers appreciate:

hand-painted fans, reasonable price

If you are searching for unique, fun, and a little twisted gifts in Beijing, then going to Grifted would be a good choice. Grifted is a gift shop located in an old street with 800 years of history.

The owner of Grifted comes from New York.

She first showed me the colorful postcards hung on the wall. The postcards are pictures taken by  local photographers. They reflect lives of the ordinary people in Beijing. One postcard featuring a little girl with a gorilla was quite interesting. It seemed to tell us a story of how to live in harmony with nature.

The colorful curtains offered in this shop are made from recycled candy wrappers. They are so glittery. Hanging them in your doorway would make a catchy fashion statement.

You also can find dolls, puppets, jewelry, and T-shirts. A black umbrella featured the picture of a monk with a funny victory gesture. It really made me in stitches.

What I appreciate:

funny items with unique design

What customers appreciate:

a wide choice of interesting items, hospitable shop owner who speaks good English

You An Kite is a shop located at You An Men Wai street, that sells kites of various types, large and small, all unique and beautiful. A large kite can be as large as the dragon kite, 100 feet in length, with hundreds of rings circling its body. A small kite can be as small as a miniature kite with a length of 0.33 feet.

One traditional Beijing kite is "Sha Yan". It is a lovely kite with a swallow's head on its main body, and four wings painted with different animals, like dragon, fish or bat, which respectively represents good luck, wealth and happiness. People believe that “Sha Yan” can bring good luck to any place it flies by. There are a lot of “Sha Yans” in the shop, and according to the shop owner, one such kite is always handmade, with bamboo as it frame and silk as its covering.

There are also kites that are machine-made. One such kite is in the shape of a triangle, and uses iron as its frame and ninon as its covering. You can easily fly it in the sky.

The smallest kites are the miniature kites with a length of only 0.33 feet. They look exactly like "Sha Yan", with their whole body painted with cute animals. They are priced at RMB 20 each.

Other beautiful kites are in the shapes of butterfly, dragonfly, fish or eagle. They are all handmade and with gorgeously painted wings.

What I appreciate:
Handmade kites with gorgeous painting

What customers appreciate:
Traditional technique, modern design

Lijiang in Yunnan Province is home to Naxi, an old ethnic minority group that holds a mysterious Dongba culture. I took a visit to Dong Ba E Zu, a handicraft shop in the 798 Art Zone, and it was a colorful experience.

The shops had many interesting items that had different colors and fancy shapes. Among them were pottery vases and teapots, one of them looked like a fence, another like a castle. A fence-shape teapot is an old item used by Naxi people. When the lid was removed, the air was instantly filled with the fragrance of the tea. Prices for these vases and teapots vary from RMB 300 to RMB 1000.

The woodcarvings also fascinated me. I found a round piece of woodcarving work that depicts an old story from this unique culture. Another piece features a goddess with an exaggerated bottom, symbolizing Naxi people's worship for reproduction. Prices for a woodcarving item is about several hundred yuan.

The batik fabrics and batik garments there were also lovely. A violet pleated skirt got my attention, one that is wholly handmade. I liked it because it not only looks Naxi, but also looks metropolitan on a Beijing street.

What surprised me were the silver jewelry items hung on the wall. They were twinkling necklaces and earrings. The earrings were so huge! - And they were just for ordinary Naxi women.

What I appreciate:
Unique culture, excellent handwork

What customers appreciate:
Handicrafts representing Dongba culture

A Tibetan handicraft shop is in Fangyuan West Road, named "Jia Na Ma Ni". "Jia Na" means "monk"in Tibetan, and "Ma Ni" is the stones Tibetans pile together for prayer.

The shop owner had worked in Tibet for many years. In her recent visits to Tibet and the area around it, she brought back a lot of colorful items from Tibet and India.

The carpets there were very eye-catching. They are made of wool, cashmere, silk, yak hair or camel hair, and have sizes varying from 2 x 3 feet to 5.5 x 8 feet. Because of a special process in the making, the colors of the carpets won't easily fade. I couldn't get my eyes off a 5.5 x 8 feet red carpet, which has a typical Tibetan style and beautiful vertical stripes at the four sides. I couldn't get my hand off it, too, because 30 % of its material is silk, so it felt so soft and so warm. The price is RMB 25,000.

Jewelry there come in the forms of necklaces, earrings and bracelets, which are made from coral, agate, pearls or pipal seed. Tibetans believe that wearing such jewelry can bring them good luck. Prices range from RMB 100 to RMB 200.

For other beautiful items, there are the spoons made from yaks' horn, which are rarely seen in Beijing, and some colorful scarves, bed linens and hats that are from India.

What I appreciate:
Ethnic Tibetan handicrafts of fine workmanship

What customers appreciate:
Tibetan handicrafts, reasonable price

Huo Shu Tang: a snapshot of China’s finest handicrafts

As the Chinese place much emphasis on meanings behind objects, one of the best ways to discover China is to know Chinese handicrafts. Handicrafts are like kaleidoscopes, through which you can see the richness of Chinese culture.

Huo Shu Tang, though a small shop, offers more than 100 types of ethnic handicrafts from all over China, most of which are rarely seen. Items here include cloth works, batiks, bean arrangements, clay figurines, paper-cuts, shadow puppets, and embroideries. All of them are made by highly skilled craftsmen.

I found myself amused by a clay work of a thumb (RMB 300), which featured a tiny frog at the tip. It turned out to be a prize-winning work in the shop, and it means “approval and appreciation”. I also appreciated a cute bean arrangement work named “Countryside Chophouse” (RMB 280), which used beans in various sizes, shapes and colors to feature people, animals, and other objects.

Prices vary quite a bit. For example, a cloth tiger costs RMB 30, while a fine piece of jade engraving costs several thousand RMBs.

The shop owner is an interesting person who speaks a little English.

What I appreciate

A wide variety of handicrafts, the bean arrangement works

What customers appreciate

Exquisite Chinese handicrafts, quality service

Walking only 5 minutes from the exit of Communication University Metro Line, you can find a 3-storied building named Dong Fang Gu Yuan Art Market. Inside is a huge selection of beautiful Chinese art, such as hand-made carvings at Teng Yun Ge.

The owner of the shop tells me that all the carving products are from his hometown in Fujian Province. Carving products from Fujian are renowned in China. The shop features woodcarving, bamboo carving, stone carving, jade carving, and colored glaze carving.

The wood carving products are made of various woods, some of which are really rare, like Zitan wood. All products are made with superb carving skills. My favorite figures are people from the stories of ancient Chinese history.

A telephone carved with a dragon and phoenix also caught my eyes. It was a really nice piece of work, with a lamp standing on the pedestal. The owner says it's a real telephone. Once plugged in, you can make phone calls with it.

Further inside is for the display of stone carvings. The prices of stone carvings are much higher than those of woodcarvings, ranging from RMB 1000 to RMB30,000, depending on the sizes and designs.

I took note of a particular type of stone carving, called Shoushan Stone carving. It has a history of over 1500 years and famous throughout the country.

What I appreciate:
Excellent carving skills, lovely carved figures

What customers appreciate:
Splendid display of hand-made carvings, a wide choice of items as far as prices and sizes are concerned.

It's pretty amazing what a little imagination can do. For example, take Hongfu, whose various animal figures are all made from plants. This Laitai Flower Market shop really stood out with this special folk art originated from Northeast China.

A look around the shelves showed animal figurines like bears, squirrels, hedgehogs, rabbits, camels, and ducks. The most impressive ones were the chickens. Some were made of corn, some were made of leaves. One particular piece featured a family of cute chicken figurines standing at the corner of the shop. 
 
I took a bear figurine to examine closely. It felt really light. The owner said the frame is made of foam. Then they glued the sterilized plants onto the body. Everything is made by hand.

A big rooster costs RMB 390. A hen costs RMB 190. A little chicken only costs RMB 35.

The shop also offers furniture, carpets, clay figurines, and fish wood carvings.

What I appreciate:
Beautiful handicrafts with unique craft

What customers appreciate:
Chinese folk art, beautiful handicrafts

Wei Sheng Hang, a shop in 798 Art Zone, holds various handmade curiosities from Taiwan.

One of the first items inside which I found interesting was "Tales by Pave". This is an impressive series of stone carvings and paintings. The stone carvings depict stories about the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses and those from Buddhism. Each stone is about 8 x 6 inches. The stones are light and used to hang on walls. The black stone carvings contain charcoal bamboo, which can purify the air surrounding it. Price is about RMB 450.

Their colorful stone paintings feature the imitations of paintings collected at Taipei's Palace Museum. Prices vary from RMB 450 to RMB 890.

The exquisite porcelain paintings are another curiosity at Wei Sheng Hang. They are artworks of a female artist who started her art career by painting on glass. Eventually, she made a career out of painting on porcelain. Price is RMB 662.

The shop also offers the beautiful celadon tea sets and the cloth-made figurines, handbags, and pillows.

What I appreciate:
Handmade artworks

What customers appreciate:
Precious artworks, special technique

Oroqen is an old ethnic minority group living in Xing'an Mountains of Inner Mongolia. Living under harsh environments, they have learned to use barks from Birch trees to make all kinds of items, such as cases, hats, handbags, baskets, and boats. Chanyu Group, a shop amidst the tech-heavy Zhong Guan Cun area, has a colorful display of these beautiful handicrafts.

Cases in a variety of forms highlight the shop. They come in various shapes and sizes, including that of a drum, a bowl, and even a heart. They can be used to hold food, jewel, pencil, or anything else you like. The bark is very durable, and will last a long time.

In fact, the shop owner, who is an Oroqen, personally vouched for the durability of the bark. She said an Oroqen family would use utensils made of Birch bark for hundreds of years.

Prices of cases vary from RMB 20 to RMB 500, depending on the sizes and intricacy. Hats and handbags are priced from RMB 100 to RMB 300.

The shop wall hung paintings of Oroqen's landscape, such as one depicting a wolf walking though the forests of Xing'an Mountains. The paintings are produced on birch wood using pyrography, which paints through the use of fire.

What I appreciate:
Unique technique, beautiful design

What customers appreciate:
Special handicrafts, ethnic art