Sōngtāng Zhāi 松堂斋
国子监街3号
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North and East of the Imperial City
Access to the tiny courtyard of what the owners claim to be ‘Běijīng’s most distinctive quadrangle’ is free. The space is occupied by a variety of fortune-tellers, with some statuary and finely carved wood on the eaves. The house contains the privately owned collections of the Museum of Traditional Folk Carving (民间雕刻博物馆, Mínjiān Diāokè Bówùguǎn) and the Yuánqīnghuā Guǎn (杨青花馆) collection of porcelain. Some patience is necessary, as Chinese tour groups tend to make the confined spaces rather noisy. Go on a working day.
The exhibitions, though overpriced, are worth seeing, particularly the wood carvings — ‘works of folk art intended to increase people’s desire to protect cultural heritage,’ we are told. Much has been rescued from destroyed courtyard houses (which probably means purchased from those who carried out the destruction). Attempts at English labels vaguely identify some of the collection, which includes fine carvings of figures in wood, seen standing on rocky prominences beneath trees full of birds. Some painted sections are riots of birds and flowers, and there’s also carved and perforated brick showing in very high relief figures dancing on swelling clouds. No photography is permitted, so of course it is going on all the time, and part of the pleasure of the small museum is that many pieces are not screened, allowing unusually close-up scrutiny, although it also means that some are heavily fingered in a way not entirely consistent with best conservation practice.
The carvings occupy one half of the ground floor and a basement space, while the Yuánqīnghuā has the other half and the upstairs. Beginning with a display of blue-and-white porcelain, it goes on to an assortment of fine Yuán and Míng dynasty ceramics, writhing with dragons and phoenixes, all of which see far fewer visitors. The museum publishes a hardback guide to the porcelain, nominally priced at ¥168, bargained down to ¥100 very easily.
▶ Guózi Jiàn Jiē 3, t 5614 3499, 9am–6pm, Apr–Oct; else 9.30am–5pm. Folk Carving Museum ¥50; Yuánqīnghuā Guǎn ¥80. m Yǒnghé Gōng (Lines 2 & 5) exit B. m Yōnghé Gōng (Lines 2 & 5) exit C. b to 雍和宫: 13, 116, 117, 684.
The Confucius Temple is just to the west, while the Lama Temple is just across the road to the east across Yōnghé Gōng Dàjiē.
There are several restaurants including vegetarian and vegan options on both sides of Yōnghé Gōng Dàjiē, along with a Costa Coffee. The Western and Japanese food in Wǔ Dào Yíng Hútòng (五道营胡同) just north and west, or reached by taking northbound hútòng either side of the Confucius Temple, has been much reduced by the ‘great bricking’, and may be all gone by the time you arrive.
Next in North and East of the Imperial City: Confucius Temple and Imperial College
Previously: Buddhism and Lamaism
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
