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Chongqing Shopping
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- Updated:
- Oct 08, 2009;
- by:
- China Highlights;
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- 101
As a large metropolis, Chongqing boasts rich natural resources and local specialties, thus making it a good place for tourists to do some shopping.
Being surrounded by mountains, Chongqing is home to many rare Chinese traditional herbal medicines, including the rhizome of Chinese goldthread (huanglian), Gastrodia elata (tianma) and the bark of eucommia (duchong). The fertile land here is also ideal for the fruit growing, such as orange, pear, pomelo and persimmon.
Chongqing also has a long history as a major tea producing area. Chongqing Tuo Tea, Cuiping Silver Needle Tea and Xinong Maojian Tea all enjoy high prestige both at home and abroad.
Gourmets are also well catered for Old Sichuan translucent beef slices, Peiling mustard tuber and Hechuan preserved pear slices are all unusual things to try.
Folk handicraft in Chongqing has long been highly regarded. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Shu Embroidery (also known as Sichuan Embroidery) has been ranked among the four most famous styles of embroidery in China, along with Suzhou Embroidery, Hunan Embroidery and Cantonese Embroidery. Rongchang paper fans have also been exported since the Qing dynasty.
Specialities
Print Painting
With the rapid economic development, peasants in rural Chongqing have benefited from great improvement in their material wealth. This has led to a desire for more cultural activities in their spare time, and the art of print painting has become their beloved form of self-cultivation and self-relaxation. And there are actually a lot of artistic genius here who have produced more than 874 works over a period of ten years, and have been successfully holding exhibitions in the US, Japan, UK, Canada and Italy. Now, over 600 works have been collected by foreigners.
Huangsha Pomelo
Huangsha pomelo is probably the most famous fruit in Chongqing. Unlike some other kinds of pomelo, it is unusually succulent and sweet, with a rich honey fragrance.
Rongchang Paper Fans
It is almost 450 years since the first Rongchang paper fan was made. Since then, the fan has enjoyed unique fame domestically and internationally. It is hardly surprising then, that hundreds of years ago the fans were exported to India and Burma. At first only the nobility could afford to buy the elegantly made fans. The past several decades have witnessed rapid innovation utilizing different materials to make the fans and the original few styles have now expanded into 345 different types of fan.
Shu Brocade
Shu brocade (also known as Sichuan brocade), soft in feel and flamboyantly colored, has a history of over two thousand years, and it is one of the four best and most famous brocades in China along with Nanjing Brocade, Suzhou Brocade and Guangxi Brocade.
Developed over more than twenty centuries, over several hundred types have evolved and brocade has become an integral part of the women’s dress among the ethnic groups from southwestern China. However, handmade brocade has given way to modern textile industries and there is only one factory in the city that specializes in making Sichuan Brocade.
Three Gorge Inkstone
For travelers fascinated by Chinese calligraphy, Three Gorge Inkstone might be the best shopping item in Chongqing. Made from special stone excavated on the Libi Gorge section of Jialing River, the fine-shaped inkstone is delicately engraved with beautiful patterns.
Gastrodia Elata
Talking about Chinese herbal medicine in Sichuan, one will not fail to recall Gastrodia elata (tianma), which contributes a great deal to patients with eclampsia. Duck braised in Gastrodia elata soup is the most famous medical dish you might encounter when dining in the local restaurants in Chongqing.
