Snuff bottles represent a centuries-old cultural exchange between Europeans and the Chinese, where the import of tobacco products met the craftsmanship and artistry of Manchurian Beijing in the height of the Qing Dynasty. Manchu culture relished in entertainment and creature comforts, and snuff, being a mixture of ground tobacco and dried herbs, became very popular. In Europe, the powder was stored in boxes, but in the more humid China, medicine bottles were better for keeping the snuff fresh. Passed from Jesuit missionaries to the emperors, snuff bottles spread from the court to average citizens, and across Asia.
This past Sunday, I was able to take part in the art of inside-painting a snuff bottle, with the guidance of a master of the craft, 李静老师. The intricate reliefs are as challenging to create as they look, if not harder, requiring a deft hand and careful use of color. 李静 has been painting snuff bottles since she was a little girl, and described practicing straight lines for hours as a child. Her family has been passing down the tradition for many generations, and she herself is now one of the more famous snuff painters in Beijing. Similarly, their home in the hutongs is very traditional for Beijing locals, which with larger common areas and close quarters promotes communal living and a family-centered lifestyle.
After spending the morning in her family’s home, we explored the area on bikes and on foot, traversing the alleys both touristy and local, the traditional residential style and renovated for retail. We passed by the bell and drum towers, which are now infamous for drawing crowds of tourists. Built in the Yuan Dynasty, they used to announce the daytime (bell) and nighttime (drum) hours. Originally, the towers were the tallest buildings in Beijing, to best be heard by all in the hutongs.
Beijing is full of these contradictions between tradition and innovation. It’s an incredible experience to explore a city so globally connected and so in touch with its own heritage. A day of painting snuff bottles, standing beneath the drum and bell towers, and biking through the hutongs on a beautiful spring day was enough to remind me of that.
By Spring 2025 Student Ruby.
Beijing’s Temple of Heaven may be one of, if not, the most iconic tourist sites in Beijing. Constructed starting back in 1406, around the same time as the Forbidden City and the other respective temples of the Sun, Earth and Moon.
Another one of the more irreplaceable experiences we have in China as students is the amount of cultural exchange we get to participate in. While The Beijing Center organizes plenty of culture-based events, from tourist activities to arts workshops, there’s something about engaging with other people our own age in cultural exchange that’s really special.
Over this past weekend, some of our students enrolled at Minzu University of China took their annual Spring Outing – this year, to Gubei Water Town. Situated about a 2-hour drive northeast of Beijing, the April weather made it absolutely perfect to explore for a spring outing. It surrounds various canals and offshoots of Yuanyang lake.
If you ever want to get a taste of Old Beijing, by far one of the best ways is to visit the hutongs. They’ve conceptually been around all the way since the 1200s, and in their most modern forms exist as protected alleyways and streets surrounded by old traditional houses and neighborhoods in the heart of Beijing and are recognized in China to be an important part of cultural heritage in the city.