Liulichang and Qian'men

Last weekend was Labor Day weekend here in China. Everyone in the family had four days off. Hubby and D spend three days camping on the Great Wall (guest blogger to follow). E flew to Hong Kong for church youth conference. I spent most of my time in bed sick with a cold. But on Tuesday hubby and I wandered out for the day. 

We took the subway line 2 to Hepingmen stop and walked a block or two to find Liulichang (antiques street). We had no idea what to expect and were very pleasantly surprised at how cool this area is! It is a pedestrian street filled with shops of old (not "American old") stuff. Honestly just being in the hutongs was cool enough for me.

Pictures cannot express how charming this street is

Many of the stores, especially this one, flaunted Cultural Revolution propaganda.

Chops are a huge seller here. There are many to choose from both new and old.

Restored architecture

Shadow puppets

I loved this little alley. That bird in the cage speaks Mandarin (of course).

A different hutong alley.

This guy probably has lots of cool stories.

Something you'd never see in America.

Commerce probably similar to days of past.

 When we were done in the hutongs at Liulichang we headed toward Qian'men. On the way we stopped for lunch, Peking duck of course. After we found this window. Egg tarts, Chinese style canolies, and "to die for" cream puffs!

Qien'men is the south of Tienanmen Square and this once was the gate that guarded the south entrance to the city.

 The area has been restored with a pedestrian street which felt just like Mainstreet USA at Disneyland (Chinese style). They preserved the character and architecture which makes for a fun place to people watch and grab some Beijing goodies. Funs shops!

We saw a huge line at this place and then learned it was a Peking Duck restaurant.

 Qian'men Emperor Avenue

 We had so much fun on our date day! 

The kids had fun resting and staying home and it was nice to not hear complaining:)