In Beijing, a Vestige of Privilege Faces the Wrecking Ball

The store has few customers, though. Even members of the Foreign Ministry, who once made obligatory stops for authentic Chinese souvenirs to give as gifts on their trips around the world, now have staff who order the gifts directly from factories.

Still, store employees say not everything has changed.

"I was here when the place first opened in 1973. I sold the same things then," said Li Shulan, 56. "After opening and reform . . . we started to see more competition. I feel sad about the decline, but I can do nothing about it."

Tourists can find cheaper versions of the store's cloisonne jewelry, silk embroidery and Chinese calligraphy elsewhere. Organized tours tend to take their flocks to the nearby Silk Market, a multistory mall of 1,500 stalls that, until last year, was nothing more than an outdoor market of counterfeit goods.

Even Chinese customers have more choices these days. Directly opposite the Friendship Store, a gleaming department store called Scitech sells imported wine, espresso makers and fashionable Puma tennis shoes.

Last year, the Friendship Store made a profit of only $9,000, state media reported in July. The year before, the store reported a loss of $370,000.

Now, it's time for a change, though exactly what kind of change not even some employees of the store know.

"Everybody's talking about it, but we don't know when or if they're really going to tear it down," Li said. "I can't believe they will. Old employees like me, we love this store."

A man from the general manager's office, who would only give his surname as Zhang, said he could not speak to the foreign media, because "this is a sensitive topic." A woman from the store's business department, who would only give her surname as Du, insisted the store had made a profit each year.

But Liu Xiuling, general manager of the Xidan Friendship Group, told Chinese reporters last month that the store did not take full advantage of its prime downtown location.

In a statement, the Party Affairs Office of the Xidan Friendship Group said the "old Friendship Store" will continue to operate somewhere in Beijing's central business district.

On the third floor of the store, work was continuing as usual the other day. Wang Baoping, an employee, pointed at Li, his colleague in the jewelry department.

"She devoted her whole life here," Wang said. "We used to be the only one who sold these things, but now China has opened up and there are other places to go. The market has opened up, that's a good thing."

Researcher Jin Ling contributed to this report.