Someone's old dog scruffy!

This taxidermy shop uses only real animals!

When your beloved pet dies, you can't do anything with it, but say goodbye.

But come to this shop! They will help your dead pets live again, and keep you company everyday!

By: C. Liu

Teapot for my g/f

She loves it like crazy! And there is a nice love poem engraved into the belly. Rare teapots have little touches like this. She is apparently fond of what it reads: you're water, I'm mud, and we mix up, never to be separated.

Haha!

Maybe this lovely Yixing teapot will give her a big enough hint to brew me a good cup of tea when I get back from work!

Author: D. Cheng

Mini kite I saw in Beijing

Its cute swallow's head made me laugh the first time I saw it. Its colorful painted body and wings look so light.

I just wonder how fast and brave it can fly. But hope it won't be swallowed by some hawk passing by. For safety, I would rather hang it on the wall, and not bring it outside.

And you know what? A kite in this shape is seen as very lucky in China, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have another great find to show you!

By: C. Liu

My favorite bracelet

My dad bought me this unusual bracelet.

The ceramic piece with a blue lotus really goes well with my favorite shirt.

And you know what? The ceramic piece on it has been buried under the ground for over 400 years, and was just unearthed recently.

So how much my bracelet will worth 100 years form now? I'm really excited just thinking about it.

By: C. Liu

Southwestern Chinese Ethnic Dress

Though thick and sometimes called "barbarian," southeastern Chinese mountain clothing is hand-woven with exquisite ethnic patterns that show elegance and style.

A skirt with multi-colored circles was especially gorgeous. I couldn't help imagining a beautiful village girl picking up tea leaves on a remote mountain while wearing it.

By A. Lao

Emperor Shop

With a big name like Emperor, this silk shop seemed to have something unique.

It did. The silk boxes it sold were special and elegant. Some of them had the imperial yellow color, which was once only reserved for the emperor.

Some of the things were so soft! Who says they were not made for the emperor?

By A. Lao

Found traditional sedan-chair show in Beijing!

Found traditional sedan-chair show in the temple fair of Beijing!

In the Chinese history,  four-person or eight-person carried sedan chairs were very popular. And riding in a sedan chair became a fairly usual way to get around.

Nowadays, sedan chairs are mostly used in the tourism industry. Bridal sedan chairs are usually placed in tourist attractions to reenact the ancient Chinese wedding ceremony or to be used as a photo prop.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

This is the outdoor of the Longtanhu park

If you want to experience the most traditional Beijing Spring Festival, go to the temple fairs is your best choice. Foreigners also like temple fair, because it is a fantastic way to experience the Chinese culture from a very detailed perspective.

Longtanhu Temple Fair is the best choice for tasting a variety of traditional Chinese snacks. You can enjoy traditional Beijing sweet cakes and other snacks made of animal parts such as stir-fried liver, bitter flapjack and fried cow stomach, and so on.

This is the outdoor of the Longtanhu park, which is beautifully decorated with dragons and red latterns.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

The New Weapon of the Barbecue Kebab King

Gu Shengli, the famous Inner Mongolian "barbecue kebab king", won the competition again by offering a 234,000-yuan bid for a food stall on auction, held by Longtanhu Park for its temple fair.

Earlier this year, Gu's stall in 2009 Ditan Spring Festival Temple Fair brought in a profit of more than 300,000 yuan from selling 12,000 kebabs with 1.1 million visitors over the 8-day period.

Besides the popular 10-yuan Arabian-flavor kebabs, his "secret weapon" this year is 10,000 "Gift Bags of Do-It-Yourself Kebabs".

There will be uncooked kebabs in the bag, and a small refined oven as well, so that the visitors can not only eat the kebabs by coming to his stall but also enjoy the fun of doing barbecue themselves at home.

--by Cathryn, your tour guide in Beijing