If you take a trip to Beijing one day, buying a local, traditional handicraft items as a souvenir must be on your plan.
 
Here’s a good option: cloisonné, or Jing Tai Lan in Chinese, which is a combination of porcelain and copper.
 
With Chinese design, striking colors, and exquisite workmanship, it can be a tasteful adornment in your room, and they are usually moderately priced.
 
In the southeast part of Beijing you can find an excellent cloisonné shop. I paid them a visit last week.
 
When I entered the shop, its middle-aged owner was wiping dust off a vase.
 
He greeted me and told me something about his business.
 
Cloisonné combines not only copper and porcelain, but also painting and engraving.
 
More than 500 years ago, it became popular in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the key color of the patterns was blue. But nowadays, many other colors are highlighted.
 
This shop is an outlet of a famous cloisonné factory in Beijing right near a lot of Beijing hotels.


I looked around attentively, and found that there was a very large collection of cloisonné wares on display.
 
They included cloisonné vases, plates, desk clocks, and small ornaments.
 
One item especially appealing to me was a vase with a very intricate pattern.
 
On the vase, magnificent ancient buildings with red walls and golden roofs are situated on a green mountain. At the foot of the mountain lies a peaceful lake, with green lotus leaves and pink lotus flowers floating in it. White, graceful cranes fly in mid-air.
 
Looking at it for a minute, I felt so relaxed and refreshed.
 
Every item there is worth admiring slowly, again and again.