Mrs. Ting, 83, is the owner of TING'S, which opened in 1958. Originally from Hong Kong, she emigrated to the U.S. to start the shop after meeting her late husband, who was Chinese American. The store is filled to brim with hard-to-find items from Greater China, which all tell stories about Chinese culture.
Mrs. Ting and her late husband converted the location of TING'S at 17 Pell Street from an old traditional Chinese medicine shop. The husband-wife duo bought these postcards during their past travels together in Taiwan and China.
The store has shelves full of ornate plates, bowls, tea cups, spoons, and snuff bottles--small containers which were used during the Qing dynasty for powdered tobacco. There are also statues of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy.
On the wall of the store are these decorative, hand-painted Chinese opera masks that can be worn on clothing as pins. “You can’t find these anywhere else now,” Mrs. Ting says. -- Contributed by Arthur Tam
17 Pell St
New York, NY
