Zhu Bingren Copper Art

Zhu Bingren is China's master of copper, and his Jiangnan Copper House on Hefang Street is a museum built from his own work: a whole building clad in hammered copper, filled with teapots, sculpture, and ornamental pieces that catch the light like bronze fire.

The artisan family has worked copper since 1875, and the ground-floor shop sells everything from small tea pets to the monumental works that anchor the upper galleries. A hand-hammered copper teapot costs a few thousand yuan and becomes a family heirloom. It is the most distinctive shopping stop in Hangzhou - part gallery, part alchemist's workshop.