Just outside the front gate of the capital, merchants from all over the middle kingdom have sold their wares for generations. Pushing heavy wheelbarrows, riding camels or donkey carts, hopeful street-style entrepreneurs arrived hoping to make their fortunes. They traded in silk, tea, porcelain, spices, knives - if you could name it, you could buy it! Some achieved success and became recognized as “Lao Zi Hao” or “time-honored brands,” the household names of the capital. These fortunate few businesses came to possess massive storefronts, their owners eager to show the world that their families now no longer belonged to the dusty streets that had brought them to Beijing in the first place. A select few of these old traditional businesses still exist today.

Follow us into the hustle and the bustle of the Dashilar district as we tell the history of China through products sold for hundreds of years on the doorstep of the Beijing. We will visit brush makers, porcelain menders, Baijiu distillers, imperial boot makers, and much much more.

This is also the perfect chance to pick up a special Christmas gift!