Antiques shopping in China
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Panjiayuan Antique Market
Beijing’s most beloved flea market sells almost every Chinese knick-knack imaginable. It’s a great spot for souvenirs, but bargain hard and treat any claims of antiquity with scepticism. Not much goes on here during the week. Instead, get here early on the weekends for one of the most fun shopping experiences in Beijing.
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Guyi Antique Furniture
There aren’t many genuine antiques here, but there are a lot of good-quality reproductions and it’s especially strong on screens, cabinets and desks. They speak English.
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Chine Antiques
This is one of the glossiest antique stores, with prices at the higher end of the spectrum. This branch is at the Liu Haisu Art Gallery and there’s a warehouse on the western outskirts. A small branch office in the Old Town (6387 4100; 38 Liuhekou Rd; 浏河口路 38 号 ), just off Dongtai Rd, can direct you to another warehouse a couple of minutes’ walk away.
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Zhōngzhōng Jiāyuán Jiāju
There are more pieces, including hundreds of wooden screens, here under one roof than anyone can take the time for. Ask to see all the rooms (about 15!), including the unrestored pieces in the warehouse, but only if you have a spare day or two. The sales staff are slicker and prices slightly higher than at some other places in town, but if you’re looking for something specific, they might just have it.
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Arch Angel Antiques
Though the specialities are antique and ancient porcelain and tombware, Arch Angel packs a lot more into its three floors: it has everything from mah-jong sets and terracotta horses to palatial furniture. It also operates an art gallery, Arch Angel Fine Art (38 Peel St) across the road, which deals in paintings by Vietnamese artists.
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Henry Antique Warehouse
This enormous showroom, with more than 2000 high-quality antique pieces, both large and small, is a good first stop for antique hunters. It’s down a lane off Hongzhong Rd in a not-so-obvious location; look for the signs. The Traditional Furniture research department of Tongji University is based here.
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Teresa Coleman Fine Arts
This is the finest shop in Hong Kong for purchasing antique Chinese textiles, including rare chi fu, the formal court robes of valuable silk worn by the Chinese emperor, princes and imperial ministers. The shop also deals in Chinese export paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries and antique fans.
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Zhang's Textiles
The Shanghai Centre address means this top-end shop caters to flush expats, offering a sublime collection of antique and framed embroidery, dragon robes and shoes for bound feet. Strangely enough, Bill Clinton prefers the Běijīng branch, but everyone has the right to be different.
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Chine Gallery
The carefully restored furniture – the lacquered cabinets are fab – at this shop come from all over China, and hand-knotted rugs are sourced from remote regions such as Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Tibet. It sells statues and collectibles, too.
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Honeychurch Antiques
This fine shop, run by an American couple for more than four decades, specialises in antique Chinese furniture, jewellery and antique English silver. There’s a wide range of stock, with items from the early Chinese dynasties right up to the 20th century.
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Běijīng Curio City
South of Pānjiāyuán, Curio City is four floors of gifts, scrolls, ceramics, carpets, duty-free shopping and furniture. It's an excellent place to turn up knick-knacks and souvenirs, especially on Sundays. Take the subway to Jìngsōng and then hop on bus 28.
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Karin Weber Gallery
Karin Weber has an enjoyable mix of Chinese country antiques and contemporary Asian artworks. She also gives short lectures on antiques and the scene in Hong Kong, and is able to arrange antique-buying trips to Guangdong for serious buyers.
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Tai Sing Fine Antiques
Tai Sing has been selling quality Chinese antiques for more than half a century, with a special focus on porcelain. Two of the shop’s six floors are now devoted to European furniture, including a dandy assemblage of art deco pieces.
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Fuyou Antique Market
There’s a permanent antique market here on the 1st and 2nd floors, but the place really gets humming for the ‘ghost market’ on Sunday at dawn, when sellers from the countryside fill up all four floors and then some.
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Wattis Fine Art
No place in Hong Kong has a better collection of antique maps for sale than Wattis Fine Art. The selection of old photographs of Hong Kong and Macau is also very impressive. You enter the shop from Old Bailey St.
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Xīguān Antique Street
This street in the Xīguān area has shops selling everything from ceramic teapots to Tibetan rugs. Even if you're not interested in loading up your pack with ceramic vases, it's still a wonderful place to wander and browse.
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Art Deco
This elegant shop, one of several retailers in the M50 complex, sells stunning furniture from the city’s creative heyday. Chairs start at around Y1200.
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Asian Artefacts
If you're serious about antiques, this shop in Coloane Village, with its before-and-after photos of restored pieces, is recommended.
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Dorje Antique Shop
For higher-quality items at higher prices, try shops like the Dorje Antique Shop, opposite the Yak Hotel.
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Liulichang Xijie
Běijīng's premier antique street, not far west of Dashilar, is worth delving along for its quaint, albeit dressed-up, age-old village atmosphere and (largely fake) antiques. Alongside ersatz Qing monochrome bowls and Cultural Revolution kitsch, you can also rummage through old Chinese books, paintings, brushes, ink and paper. Prepare yourself for pushy sales staff and stratospheric prices. If you want a chop (carved seal) made, you can do it here. At the western end of Liulichang Xijie, a collection of ramshackle stalls flog bric-a-brac, Buddhist statuary, Cultural Revolution pamphlets and posters, fake Tang-dynasty sāncǎi (three-colour porcelain), shoes for bound fee…
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