Fun fact about shopping in Chengdu: It takes the gold medal on the podium for the city with the largest number of teahouses in China. By anyone’s admission, a considerable feat indeed. With locals devoted to this healing and restorative beverage, tea is not only a beverage but also a culture within a culture, woven […]
READ MOREChengdu lacquer
First emerging during the Shang and Zhou dynasties around 1600 – 256 BC, lacquer craft really forged its place in Chinese culture during the Han dynasty. So superbly made were these historical pieces that many recovered items retain their beautiful colors, despite being buried hundreds of years in many cases. Chengdu lacquer art is distinctive […]
READ MOREWoven bamboo-covered porcelain
If you’re looking to bring home a unique, hand-crafted gift from Chengdu, consider investing in a unique local handcraft, for which there is no elegant name, so we settled for woven bamboo-covered porcelain. An exquisite handcraft combining two hallmarks of China – bamboo and porcelain – these Chengdu shopping treasures are made by intricately weaving […]
READ MOREPanda themed gift
We’re not overstating things when we say we love pandas. Chengdu is one of our favorite stopovers after all, so it’s impossible to avoid panda paraphernalia; a fact which brings us to a very real Chengdu shopping dilemma. Because you can’t take home a real panda, it’s necessary to settle for the next best thing: […]
READ MORESichuan brocade
In the 17th century, Chengdu was given the moniker, the City of Brocade, a function of the Han dynasty establishing an office in Chengdu to manage brocade production. When you understand just how pivotal Chengdu has been as a manufacturing center of silk brocade for over two thousand years, it’s clear the name City of […]
READ MORESichuan embroidery
With a remarkable history spanning 2000 years, Sichuan – or Shu – embroidery is one of what’s locally referred to as the ‘Four Famous Embroideries of China’. Together with Suzhou (Su), Hunan (Xiang), and Guangdong (Yue) embroidery, Sichuan embroidery includes over 130 different types of stitches. Originating from the folk people living in the west […]
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