Travel China and Beyond

Hongqiao Pearl Market

One of the things that newcomers to Beijing tend to spend a lot of time doing is shopping. Beijing is chock-full of markets selling brand-name knockoffs (clothing, shoes, purses, outerwear, etc.), jewelry, antiques (real and otherwise), and so on. One of my favorites is the Hongqiao Pearl Market, located near the Temple of Heaven in the southern part of Beijing. Hongqiao has toys, office supplies, scarves, purses, shoes, clothing, knickknacks, traditional silk clothing, and above all, pearls. The top two floors of Hongqiao are stuffed with pearls, real and fake, as well as coral, turquoise, art glass, cloisonne and various other jewelry. The sheer amount of jewelry there is simply amazing. The pricier shops are located on the fourth floor (oddly enough, they are only accessible by elevator and stairs, and not by the series of escalators that serve the rest of the building, so they are easy to miss). Typically, the third floor pearl sellers have their very worst pearls set out in plain view, but if you ask to see something of a bit better quality, they rummage about in cupboards behind the counter and bring out sacks of progressively better pearls. If you show yourself to be a reasonably knowledgeable customer, the pearl sellers will usually pay you the compliment of not trying to pass off bad quality goods to you. What kind of pearls do they have? Well, the selection includes fake pearls (which, if you ask them, they will usually readily admit are not real), cultured freshwater pearls from China, cultured seawater pearls from Japan and China, Tahitian pearls, and South Sea pearls. The vast majority are Chinese cultured freshwater pearls and they run the gamut from low quality to some that are quite good. Bargains can definitely be had, but only after haggling has taken place. People usually tend to find one or two stall owners they are happy with and stick with them because once a relationship has been established, the bargaining process is much shorter and easier