| Notes: I would suggest to disregard most calls by shop owners on Liulichang street (and some neighbouring ones) to get in and 'just look'. Have a 'walk-through' of the area and decide what you actually would like to buy. You may find that prices for some items such as rock carvings, scrolls, etc may differ by 200-300%. Most specialised shops will also offer to carve your name in Chinese characters for free on a seal of your choice - you could browse through the items in the store while this is done (about 5-10 minutes); mine (which was "nick") took about 4 minutes. For the reference - the price tickets on stone carvings above range from ¥1,800 to ¥29,000 (obviously - negotiable, but basically from US$200 upwards...). Another important thing - please buy Beijing 2008 merchandise only in official stores, there are some street vendors that sell obvious fakes. |
