Liulichang street

Indeed, Liulichang is saturated with the intellectual culture of the ancient capital, but these days with a more international group of visitors, and a more welcoming atmosphere.

The wooden panel outside the pawnshop reads, "Come and go, treasures of the world." And that's literally what used to happen, and is still happening here.

Many of the antiques here are over a hundred years old. Some are claimed to be more than a thousand years old. I don't know. The reason this place is so rich in antiques is rooted in a tradition from China's Imperial past. Those days saw the coming of generation after generation of students. They came to Beijing to take the palace examinations that would qualify them to serve as public officials. According to the tradition, each student had to bring gifts to his teachers, something like this, or maybe like this.

Here, closing your eyes won't help you step back in time – opening them does. Splendid objects, wreathed by the aura of history, hark back to hundreds, or even thousands of years ago.

But still, in a place like this, you are bound to feel the burdens of history. Actually, Liulichang has had its share. From coming to being in the sixteenth century, to full prosperity two hundred years later, and then a series of dramatic ups and downs. Here, history is never obliterated, but written upon generation after generation.