With Mr. Liu Shuli Sept 16th and 17th in Beijing / Lishi Hutong and area
Let's start off with a watch, and see where it fits in this story...
But first, a note about where I where I stay in Beijing:
Six times of my last seven visits, I've stayed at the Xiao Yuan Alley Courtyard Hotel AKA Xingshe Alley Courtyard Hotel in Lishi Hutong, a very old area of the city. Flat out, I love staying there. I'm guessing the place has maybe 12 or a few more rooms and suites for singles to families, and the level of customer care care at a personal level is remarkable.
The staff are warmly helpful, the sleep quality is very good and the location is a very normal semi-residential alley. It doesn't feel particularly touristy. There are two fairly major downtown Beijing streets at either end, but the alley itself is quite quiet and calm. Great food and small corner style stores are all over the place, nearby.
Also: I'm 72 and I can still walk to anywhere in Beijing I'd usually go from there.
Going more or less south, the Imperial Palace Museum or Tiananmen or Oriental Plaza/Wangfujing, for examples, are all within an easy hour's walk. Going north, about the same for the gorgeous lakes (and great music) of the Shichahai Subdistrict. Taxis are very inexpensive compared to what I know in Canada, and the metro is close. Room rates are budget reasonable compared to many, many other hotels in the downtown area.
Six times of my last seven visits, I've stayed at the Xiao Yuan Alley Courtyard Hotel AKA Xingshe Alley Courtyard Hotel in Lishi Hutong, a very old area of the city. Flat out, I love staying there. I'm guessing the place has maybe 12 or a few more rooms and suites for singles to families, and the level of customer care care at a personal level is remarkable.
The staff are warmly helpful, the sleep quality is very good and the location is a very normal semi-residential alley. It doesn't feel particularly touristy. There are two fairly major downtown Beijing streets at either end, but the alley itself is quite quiet and calm. Great food and small corner style stores are all over the place, nearby.
Also: I'm 72 and I can still walk to anywhere in Beijing I'd usually go from there.
Going more or less south, the Imperial Palace Museum or Tiananmen or Oriental Plaza/Wangfujing, for examples, are all within an easy hour's walk. Going north, about the same for the gorgeous lakes (and great music) of the Shichahai Subdistrict. Taxis are very inexpensive compared to what I know in Canada, and the metro is close. Room rates are budget reasonable compared to many, many other hotels in the downtown area.
Complete with bidet, and enclosed shower...
...and the hotel has a nice reading/meeting room, too.
Here's why I like it in the alley...
And here's why I like it in the neighbourhood...
Mr. Liu Shuli (center, in the light shirt) of the Beijing Wangfujing Jingshi Watch-Clock Shop (Dongsi Bei Da Jie, #492) has always been a thoughtful and generous friend, and we've met many times since our first meet in 2013 (although I'd visited his shop earlier once, just by chance, when he wasn't there). I mention that because it speaks well for the shop that I was treated beautifully by the people who were at the shop that day, before I was introduced in any sort of formal or direct way as a known collector.
Anyways, the hotel is very close to Mr. Liu's store, so as soon as I arrived, I went straight to his shop to say hi. That led to two fun things...well, more, but two right away...
#1: Immediate dinner with Mr. Liu and a close friend of his (who spoke wonderful English), Mr. Bai Jing. During which time we had a great meal and caught up, and...
#2, During the meal, I was asked what was my favourite food in Beijing. Without hesitation--and as it turns out, hastily--I replied Tofu Nao (literally translates to "tofu brains"), a delicious moderately spicy and warming tofu breakfast soup/pudding, served with a long and sweet bread roll, And in doing so talked myself into meeting with Mr. Liu for Tofu Nao at 8:15 the next morning, in a shop near his.
So much for sleeping in.
Here's the breakfast with half the bread...dipped and gone :-)
Also present for breakfast was Mr. Pan Jian, invited by Mr. Liu, long-time Editor of TrendsTime magazine in China (a top fashion magazine) and a writer on related art and culture. We all went to Mr. Liu's shop after breakfast.
In the days following, Mr. Pan was instrumental in my visit to the Beijing independent watchmakers facility I've mentioned elsewhere and that will be getting it's own write-up. It was kind of Mr. Pan to arrange that and to accompany me on the visit. I know he made an effort to help me learn and meet people, and I'm grateful.
I've covered Mr. Liu and his shop before, here and here, but things change so here's a fresh look...lotsa watch content...
As is evident in the first of the links to past mentions, Mr. Liu provided a huge leg up in the ephemera and parts and tools sections of the AMCHPR collection. Always grateful. Folks in China also get to see Mr. Liu on Douyin (China's version of TikTok) and he's got a very sizable following.
Which gets me back to the Hongqi Peacock watch at the top of story.
Well, I brought it with me intending to take it to Mr. Liu's shop for a repair because I love the thing and it was getting finicky.
The folks at Mr. Liu's shop fixed it for me, just as a kindness ( Case back from another shoot.) I have incredible friends.
