Ruifu Xiang Silk Fabric Store, Beijing

In summary avoid the men's shop. The dress shop is fine. My girlfriend had chinoise dress made for her. Silk with a silk lining. It was quite beautiful and fit her nicely. The men's tailor is best avoided. I bought a suit for me, a blazer and pants for my son, and a suit for my daughter. I don't bargain with tailors because they'll short you somewhere. I just expect to get what I paid for. I paid close to $300 for each suit. Mine took two fittings to get right. At the first fitting it fell like a bag. I come to pick it up and they hand't done anything. Still fit like a bag. After my hotel, which recommended the place, intervened they made it fit. My son's blazer they cut from one I brought. It was a blue blazer and buttons were cloth. I asked for bronze. They said OK and fitted it with the cheeziest plastic buttons I had ever seen. I sent it back again and it came with some serviceable buttons. The jacket was cut well and fit my son well. My daughter's suit didn't fit around the bust. They took it back and when she refitted it they had done nothing. Finally, I bought three shirts. The look and fit exactly like cheap rack shirts. The collar and shoulders did fit, but big deal. The cuffs were huge and the shirts just hand there. I can get much better off the rack in the US for the same price. Much better. The scarves were nice and fairly priced. They have a large selection of silks. Just find some other tailor.

I just came back from Beijing. I was looking for Rui Fu Xiang Silk Store at Da Zha Lan and went into the wrong store with the same name "Rui Fu Xiang" at one end of the street. This Rui Fu Xiang also sell silks and also does tailoring but they do not seem to carry a wide variety of silks in the store. When I casually asked the salesperson whether they are the original store, she mumbled something yes. I thought I found the right store and tailor made a cheongsam for myself. I only find out that I got into the wrong store when I reached the other end of the Da Zha Lan street and saw the original Rui Fu Xiang Silk Store which sells alot of silks. So watch out for the imitation!

After visting and trying to find out what was real silk and what was not, at the market at Wangfujing Street, I read in my travel guide about Rui Fu Xiang. I went to Dashilan and found the most beautiful silk. They have fixed prices but you are sure of the authenticity of the materials. They gave me their folder, so I found out that they had three or four shops in Beijing. One was very close to my hotel (Grand Hyatt). I enjoyed so much touching and learning about the different silk qualities, and buying hand painted best quality scarfs in silk, velvet silk stola's, kasjmer and silk scarfs for the winter, ... .I bought a lot, but now I came home again , I realize even more how beautiful and unique they are. One or two of the ladies in the shop spoke English. They were very friendly and patient. The prices of the scarfs went from 88 to 500 Yuan (and maybe more, I suppose). It's a paradise for women (and some men) to do some authentic, Chinese quality shopping.