Liu li chang, famous for stores specializing in antiques and artifacts, is located in Qianmen, the oldest neighborhood in the city, a place where the surroundings retain the atmosphere of traditional China. Here you will find old coins, scrolls, Tibetan and Mongolian antiques, calligraphy materials and stamps. Even if you are not interested in these kinds of purchases you should visit this street for a glimpse of an older style of Beijing. The buildings have painted wooden beams and roofs topped with curved and glazed Chinese tiles.

Liu li chang literally means factory of colored glaze in Chinese, a curious name considering the street does not produce anything closely related to glazed tiles(liu li in Chinese).

  Origin of the Name

Early in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), the original place of today's Liu li chang was called Haiwang Village, an 800-meter-long street was located in the suburban area of Beijing. Up until the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), a court porcelain kiln was built here to produce Liu li wa (glazed tiles). When the inner city of Beijing was being built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the scale of the court porcelain kiln was largely extended, becoming one of the five major factories of the Ming government. When the outer city of Beijing was built in the 32nd year of the Jiajing Reign, or 1554 in the Gregorian Calendar, the site of the factory became part of the downtown area. The glazed tiles ceased to be produced in the area and the factory was moved to the Liuliqu Village in the Mentougou District, but the name Liu li chang remained. 

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