Brief Introduction

Which products are unique to China and attract foreign tourists?

The first is Chinese silk. China is the earliest country to use silk in the world. The beautiful and unique silk of China was exported to Europe through the Silk Road and was greatly admired by European people. It was said Emperor Caesar of ancient Rome once wore a robe made of Chinese silk. Today the silk from Suzhou and Hangzhou demonstrates a soft and excellent quality and a great variety.

Developed together with silk are embroidery and brocade. Embroideries from Jiangsu, Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan are very famous. The famous brocades include Nanjing brocade of clouds, Sichuan brocade, Guangxi brocade, Dai brocade and Hangzhou brocade, each has its own distinctive feature.

Porcelain has a long history in China. China had painted and black pottery in the New Stone Age. In the Shang Dynasty in 11th century B. C., China developed primeval celadon ware. China's porcelain industry came to a high stage of development during the Ming Dynasty and Jingdezhen became China's ceramic center.

Today China has many other pottery and porcelain production centers, of which the pottery from Yixing in Jiangsu, Shiwan in Guangdong, Nixing in Guangxi, and imitated tri-colored glazed pottery from Tang Dynasty in Henan are the most famous in the country.

Lacquer ware is a traditional handicraft of China. The famous ones are hollow?body lacquer ware from Fujian, and Yangzhou, Dafang and Sichuan lacquer wares. The hollow-body lacquer ware from Fujian Province has a long history and is gentle and beautiful and heat?, acid? and alkaline?resisting and insulation. The lacquer ware from Yangzhou is elegant, delicate in workmanship, nice in designs and brilliant in colors. That from Dafang is graceful and embellish. That from Sichuan has a brilliant design, rich and colorful in decoration and has simple but thick colors.

Carving is one of China's traditional handicrafts. With different materials and in varied ways, carvings are distinguished from one to another. Carvings from Beijing are appreciated as three most famous handicrafts in China together with ceramics from Jingdezhen and embroidery from Hunan. Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai are three production centers of China's carved ivory objects. Jade carvings in China are of many schools. The main ones are the southern China jade carving style and the northern China jade carving style. The southern China jade carvings are represented by carved jade flowers and lake scenes. Of the northern China jade carvings, Beijing is famous for carved jade figures. The materials for carvings from Jilin Province are of tree roots, and the carved maidservants from roots have different postures and expressions. In addition, there are jet, crystal, stone, coconut and shell carvings.

Traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy are famous for their unique features in the world. The writing brush, ink stick, paper and ink slab are called the four treasures of the study. Especially the ink slab is made of stone, which is selected strictly. The famous production centers of the ink slabs are Duanzhou (Zhaoqing) in Guangdong, Shexian County in Anhui, Shandong and Lintaohe in Gansu. The ink slabs from these places are fine in stone quality, save ink and do not damage the brush. In recent years, the facial makeups in Peking opera made with combination of the handcraft of traditional Chinese paintings and the artistry of carving also go over the foreign tourists.

The famous writer Han Suyin (Elizabeth Comber) said, "Tea is a unique, real and civilized drink and is the embodiment of politeness and spiritual purity." China is one of the earliest countries to cultivate and produce tea in the world. Chinese tea is of various kinds, mainly of red tea, green tea and scented tea. The famous red tea includes Qihong Tea from Anhui and Dianhong Tea from Yunnan. The famous green tea includes Longjing Tea from Hangzhou, Biluochun Tea from Dongting and Maofeng from Huangshan. The scented tea is fragrant with flowers and is liked by the Chinese people.

China is one of the earliest countries with brewery industry. Since ancient time, it has been used on various kinds of ceremonies to offer sacrifices to the god and to the ancestors and to drive away the ghosts and drink on gatherings of friends, celebration meetings, wedding ceremonies, funerals and festivals. There are liquor, rice wine, grape wine, fruit wine, beer and mixed wine. Maotai Liquor, Qingdao Beer and Yantai Red Wine enjoy a good reputation on the international market.

Also the various straw, rattan, hemp, palm fiber and bamboo woven articles made in different parts of the country are famous at home and abroad.

The shops introduced in this web site are examined and approved by the related Chinese government agencies. Medium-sized shops offer such services as foreign currency exchanges, mail orders, consign for shipment, customs declaration on behalf of guests. Some shops can process products with supplied materials and samples, accept orders for goods and export goods in small quantities. Tourists buy goods in these shops will receive good services.

Later on, we will also recommend some overseas shops that sell the same products in the US, Canada, UK and other western countries.

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