China Tours - Shopping in Xian

Xian is one of the most important cities in China history and nowadays. As one of China seven ancient national capitals, Xian served as the capital for 12 dynasties spanning more than 1,000 years. Therefore, it has a great number of the items unique to Xian that cannot be found elsewhere in the world.

There are many street markets around the city to sell local arts and crafts. The famous street markets are Parkson shopping mall, the Bell Tower shopping street, the Drum Tower night market and the Academy Gate culture street. The luxurious shopping areas in the city are centered mainly along Dong Dajie, Nan Dajie and Jiefang Lu. Department stores usually open at about 9 am and close at 10 pm.

The replicas of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, calligraphy rubbings, farmer paintings, paper cuts and jade craft works are the most popular buys in Xian. If you missed those things on your Xian tour, you cannot easily found them in other cities in China.

The replicas of Terracotta Warriors and Horses:

The terracotta warriors and horses is one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries of all times ever since its excavation in 1974. Many visitors come to Xian would like to take a Terracotta Warrior as souvenir. You can find different types of replicas, from a few inches tall to life-size available in the markets. The replicas of Terracotta Warriors and Horses will give visitor's home or garden a real ancient and oriental touch.

Calligraphy rubbings:

Calligraphy rubbings are convenient and meaningful mementoes for foreign tourists to remind them of their China tours. They are especially liked by Japanese visitors who share the same written character.

Xian has more than 300 stele dating from the Han, Wei, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties collected in the Forest of Stele. You can purchase calligraphy books that rubbed from the stone inscriptions in many shops. If you love Chinese calligraphy, a rubbing book could be a good souvenir.

Farmer paintings:

Farmer paintings from Huxian County outside Xian are very popular and unique. The works feature notable regional tones, marked by pictorial landscape and the rustic life. The Gallery of Farmers' Paintings from Huxian County has more than 1000 paintings on displaying with an exhibition area of 1200 square meters. Visitors can appreciate the demonstration of the artist and appreciate the performance of folk artists. Xian is a good place for shopping farmer paintings.

Paper cuts:

Paper cut is one of the famous souvenirs in Xian. Paper cut, though named from paper, can also be caused by other thin, stiff materials, such as aluminum foil, thin blades of grass, or film negatives. There are three kinds of paper cuts: Figures in paper cut, customs in paper cut and animals in paper cut. All these paper cuts have bright color of red, green or light blue which provide a strong foil to set off a merry atmosphere. So the paper cuts often found in wedding ceremonies or festivals in China. Any visitor to Xian agrees that it is a pleasure to have paper cuts as souvenirs.

Jade craft works:

Xian jade carvings boast five thousand year history. Nowadays all kinds of nice-looking and exquisitely-carved jade craft works , such as jade bowls, jade bracelets, jade pendants, etc, are available in Xian. There are some important tips to choose the jade craft works: the brightness of color and luster, compactness of inner structure, and the delicacy of the craft work. For example, on real jade, air bubbles cannot be seen and so on.