Please note that the products produced by or for Antique Express are protected under national and international copyright and design laws.

Antique Express also holds trademark rights with regard to the trademarks: Hu Tong™, Hortus™, Pure Nature™, Bohemia™, Miao Lucky Charms™, Tibetan Treasures™, Imperial Dreams™.

Antique Express will prosecute any unauthorised use of its intellectual property.

In this photo gallery we exhibit work by Kang Xue Song. Kang Xue Song was born in 1964 in Beijing, China.

After his major study at the Open College of Photography of China, he joined the China Photographers Association and The Photojournalist Society of China.

He has 20 years of professional photography experience. He has been the chief photojournalist of the Police Science Digest and photojournalist for the Beijing Morning Post since 1986, aswell as working freelance.

He has won many awards in several photography contests such as International Salon of Pictorial Photography, Nikon Cup, Canon Cup, Asian Scene, part of his work has been collected by the Guangdong Museum of China.

Furthermore, he has had several solo exhibitions.

Hu Tong™ is an innovative line of stylish contemporary furniture designed by Antique Express.

You can choose from four basic materials:

- Mindi

- Stainless Steel

- Iron

or

- Oak

You can also mix and match them.

Sizes for each model are indicated in the last 3 positions in all reference codes in cm: lenght - depth - height.

For commercial projects we can produce customized orders in other sizes.

May 2008

We care about children. In 1994 we came in contact with a Chinese orphanage and decided we wanted to help improve the situation there: most children were disabled and received no proper care.

With donations from many Hong Kong citizens and companies we renovated the sanitary facilities, paid for adaptions for the disabled and funded staff training.

This improved the living conditions dramatically and there was hope again for these children.

The staff training was given by specialists from the The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation.

Up to this day they continue to give these trainings in many orphanages all over China and we fully support this good cause by donating part of the proceeds of sales of our Miao Lucky Charms™ to them. So by buying these items you can participate in this good cause.

In Autumn/winter 2008 a new project will start: rehabilitation training courses in Chengdu orphanage in Sichuan province.

This is located in the recent earthquake area, but luckily, there was no injury and death in the Chengdu orphanage during the earthquake.

The training content will focus on post-surgery rehabilitation for disabled children. This training will not only provide for the rehabilitation staff in Chengdu but also for other orphanages in nearby region.

More information as below: Duration of the course: 6 days. Number of trainees: 30 rehabilitation staff, nurses and childcare workers who serve disabled orphans. Cost of the course: around USD10,000 which covers accommodation and food for the trainees, travel of teachers, course materials, local transport and practice fee.

We will post news about this or other projects as soon as it comes in.

Mail us your comments or general questions and we post them on our board.

The spear or Qiang in Chinese evolved very early in Chinese history.

Originally tapering down the end of a bamboo stick or rod made the spear. Eventually later a sharp tapered metal head was added. There has been many versions of the spear. The design of the spear normally depended on the dynasty it was in.

Many Generals preferred the use of the spear because its techniques and applications were superior to those of other weapons. Because the spear was normally light it could be wielded around with quickness and agility.

The spears movements are normally compared to a swimming dragon. Since the spear was so versatile it was given the title “King of the Long Weapons”.

It is said that it takes a 1000 days to master the spear.

Erhu (Two Stringed Violin) This is one of the most widely used bowed instruments in China. It represents a type of huqin constructed of various hardwoods with the soundbox covered by snake skin. The top of the neck is frequently carved, often in the form of a dragon head. The erhu has undergone a number of modifications during its 500 year history, so that its tone is both mellow and bright, making it popular for both solo and orchestral performances.

Ruan (moon-shaped short-necked lute) It was once termed as qin pipa (dating to the Qin dynasty between 221-207 BC) or yueqin (moon-shaped short-necked lute). The name is a shortened form of Ruan Xian, a musician and one of the "seven Sages of Bamboo Grove" of the 3rd century (the Six Dynasties). Pictorial evidence, excavated from a tomb of his time in Nanjing, depicting Ruan Xian's performance of this instrument, confirms that its construction was roughly the same as that of today.

Sanxian (three-string lute) The name appears popularly as xianzi. Its ancestor is said to be a lucked string instrument xiantao (a type from a rattle drum), commonly seen among the ancient people. The modern type has a resonator pf padauk or red sadal, coverred on both sides with python skin. Its fretless neck functions as the fingerboard. Performers pluck with fingernails, generally without any plecttrum.

We sell Blue and White aswell as Famille Rose

Famille Rose: This group of Chinese porcelain wares are characterized by decoration painted in opaque over-glaze rose colours, mainly shades of pink and carmine. These colours were known to the Chinese as yang cai (“foreign colours”) because they were first introduced from Europe (about 1685).

In fact, the world was hooked on the array of forms, colours, and patterns that Chinese artisans had developed over hundreds of years. When a new palette evolved in the early 18th century adding pink to the rainbow of enamels, Europeans couldn't get enough of it.

The French classified the group as "famille rose" in the 19th century, and its export lasted into the early 20th century.

Although the vast majority of Chinese porcelain made for export over time was blue and white, famille rose survives in quantity because it was expensive to make and considered precious.

The first blue and white wares were made in China and in the early fourteenth century mass-production of fine, translucent, blue and white porcelain started .

Chinese blue and white porcelain was once-fired: after the porcelain body was dried, decorated with refined cobalt-blue pigment mixed with water and applied using a brush, coated with a clear glaze and fired at high temperature.

Production of blue and white wares has continued to this day. Our collection consists of high quality copies of Ming dynasty models and original pieces dated from the late Qing dynasty.

Chinese people take great pleasure from the company of song birds.

These birdcages are handcrafted out of bamboo and some are decorated with intricate carving and tiny hand painted porcelain feeding bowls.

Men went out for walks with their pet birds, it was a custom passed on from generation to generation.

Even today, male retirees have a particular fondness for keeping birds and an old man with a trolley full of birdcages, taking his pets out for a walk, is a common site in Chinese streets and parks.

On festive occasions, people in the city often go to temples or to places with ponds and gardens to breathe the fresh air, taking their birds with them.

These are high quality reproductions from original 17th century Ancestor paintings.

They are painted on linen.