Beijing Shopping

Notice: The summer hours for most Beijing shopping malls are 9:00am to 21:00pm, and in winter they are closed either a half or one hour earlier than in summer. Many larger and Tourism Appointed stores will accept credit card payment. Bringing some cash is always necessary in the event that you'd like to buy something from the street vendors.

Local Specialties: Beijing's 'Four Famous Representative Arts' are cloisonne (Jingtailan), ivory carvings (Yadiao), jade objects (Yuqi) and carved lacquer wares (Qidiao). They are handmade folk art. You may also find lifelike flour or clay figurines (Mianren or Niren), colorful kites, exquisite paper-cut, Chinese knots (Zhongguojie) and others in the street.

Beijing, the nation's capital is an ideal tourist shopping city. There are four business areas in Beijing: Wangfujing Street, Qianmen Street, Xidan Commercial Street and Dongsi Street.

Wangfujing Street: starts with East Changan Jie in the south, ends with China Art Gallery in the north, this 700-year-old commercial street is about three Li (about 1640 yards) long. The first famous business zone in Beijing houses a wide variety of shops and boutiques where you find commodities, some of which are of world-famous brands. Nowadays Wangfujing Street is a modern commercial street which is said to be the sister street of the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The Foreign Language Bookstore is also in this area. The Old-Beijing-Street is underground, and built in Ming and Qing styles. The outstanding characteristic of it is the centralized well-known longstanding stores selling shoes, caps, silk cloth, scissors, Chinese brushes and ink-stick, jade, teas, desserts, pickled vegetables, roast duck and so on. Beijing Craftwork and Art Mansion specially operates various industrial arts and artworks, and is famed all over Beijing, and is an old shop in Wangfujing Street. Xin Dong An Plaza and Beijing Department Building are large-size general merchandise retail shops in China, and Yong Zheng Tailors Shop is famed for its sewing men formal dress. Customers can enjoy the superior service here and it is said that the shop has even offered special services for state leaders and stars.

Qianmen Street used to be the business center 500 hundred years ago, thus now it is filled with aged brand stores.

To the west of Tiananmen Square is the Xidan Commercial Street, named 'the second Wangfujing' in Beijing, it now consists of mainly food markets, clothes stores and commodities. It is of an international standard modern commercial combination of shopping, dining, recreation and culture etc.

Liulichang Culture Street
As an antique collector, you should not miss Liulichang Culture Street. It is a few minutes' walk from the south of Hepingmen subway station. It is an established market selling jewelry, antiques, ancient calligraphies and paintings. Antiques of 100 years old and over are marked with a red seal and requires an export license before leaving the country.
The best-known shop in this street is Rong Bao Zhai, which first opened about 300 years ago, and sells authentic works of art. There are also shops selling old watches and furniture. The China Book Store is located at No. 57 Liulichang West Street, where tourists can buy new editions of ancient Chinese books, new and old edition books on literature, history and philosophy etc.

Silk Alley lies in Xiushuidong Jie (East Xiushui Street) off Jianguomenwai Street, near the US Embassy. It is a good place frequented by the resident foreigners in Beijing for bargains. Whatever you wish to buy, like bags, shoes, handicrafts or sweaters, you may haggle a lot with the owners for the best price.

Open HoursDaily 8.30a-7p

Located opposite the northeastern entrance to the Temple of Heaven, this market is somewhat of an institution in Beijing. Come here to find antiques, jewelry, clothes, food, souvenirs, gifts, toys, shoes and more. Prices are incredibly cheap, and the more you buy the bigger the discount. The quality of the goods is not always the best, but for the prices it is about what you should expect. Rather chaotic but you will have fun poking around. A fish market is located in the basement. Credit cards accepted at some jewelry stalls.

Open Hours9.30am-9.30pm daily.

This is yet another enormous elegant department store in the heart of the city. As always with this chain, Beijing Sogo guns to be at the top end of department store rankings. On the first floor there is a UCC Coffee shop and on the third a Tully's. The rest is very much as other stores--accessories, a ladies' department, a menswear section, sporting goods, household goods as well as children's clothing and accessories. In all areas there is a vast choice of local and international brands.

Ruifuxiang Silk Shop

5 Da Zha Lan Alley, Qian Men
Beijing, 11 100051 China

+86 0 10 6304 1702 / +86 0 10 6303 2880

Open Hours9am-8.30pm daily.

If you plan on buying silk while in Beijing then this store, dating back to the Qing Dynasty, is the number one place. On the ground floor silk sells from as little as CNY50 per metre up to more than CNY400 per metre, with literally hundreds of choices. Satin, velvet, linen, cotton and other materials are also available. Upstairs there is a selection of both men's and women's silk clothing. Also, tailors can make items such as cheongsams and padded silk jackets (from CNY330 plus material), and suits (from CNY100 plus material).

Ya Bao Street Market

Ya Bao Road
Beijing, 11 100020 China

+86 (0)10 6599 3523

Known as the “Russian Market” because of its previous location in the Russian quarter, this is basically a large indoor version of a Chinese street market. Devoid of its once characteristic selection of furs, it now has little that entitles it to this nickname other than a large Russian language sign outside. Inside are sections selling clothing and bric-a-brac, toys, and a large hall of edibles, including a good selection of fish and seafood. Bargaining is, naturally, de rigueur.

Parksons

101 Fu Xing Men Nei Avenue
Beijing, 11 100031 China

+86 (0)10 6601 3377

Open Hours10am-10pm daily.

This is a relatively expensive department store that generally sells quality goods. The department store layout follows the general pattern found in most other stores with cosmetics on the first floor, ladies' wear on the second, men's department on the third floor and so forth.

Of particular interest is the handicraft section on the fifth floor, where one can pick up interesting pieces of varying size and artistic quality. Good local food on the top floor.

New China Store for children

168 Wang Fu Jing Street
Beijing, 11 China

+86 (0)10 6525 0866

Open Hours9am-9pm daily.

If you take the kids along to this store, you might be hard pushed getting them to leave. This six-storey building offers everything a child could dream of from toys to stationery and clothing.

This shop was the first state-owned department store for children following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Apart from stocking everything a child could possibly want or need they also offer dining and entertainment facilities. It is good thing that the shop does not provide lodging facilities.

Flying Man Paragliding Club

No.5, east bar street of Yuan dynasty
Beijing 100083 China

+86 (0)10 6495 6790

hoefu@hotmail.com

http://www.flying-man.com

China's biggest paragliding club boasts the world's most advanced equipment, a full-time English speaking coach and some non-English speaking local coaches. The club has over 60 certified Gold Card members. It also offers training, which usually takes five to eight days. English instruction is provided upon request. Paragliding usually takes place at Shi San Ling, 50km outside of Beijing. Equipment is available. Alternatively, if you have the funds, you can purchase your own gear.

Gui Ji Peking Opera Goods Shop

130 Qian Men Avenue
Beijing, 11 China

+86 0 10 6705 0984 / +86 0 10 6701 3164

Open Hours8.30am-7pm daily.

Ever wondered where you could go to transform yourself into the Monkey King? This is the place to head. This fascinating little store stocks face paint, hats, shoes, swords, sequins, fans, umbrellas, boas and masks, and that is only the beginning. Complete costumes are available for as little as RMB70, or as much as RMB1000 for a high quality tailor-made version. A similar shop next door also has a small selection of other fancy-dress items.

Women Street
Operation of the street covers clothing, general merchandise and shoes and hats, and mainly includes imported from Guangzhou, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as other international fare. Women Street is believed to be the place that you can find anything you might want.

Panjiayuan Folk Culture Market
It is a holiday market selling old folk art wares, collections and decorations including old books, furniture in ancient styles, jade articles, porcelains, Chinese and foreign coins and folk costumes etc.
Address: 18, Huawei Li, Panjiayuan Road, Chaoyang District
Opening hour: Curio area opens every day while art wares area opens only on Saturday and Sunday.

You may choose to go to specialty stores as well as those large shopping malls for daily necessities.

Commodities: As the capital city of China, Beijing has many supermarkets. We recommend the ones below:
Wangfujing Shidu Department Store
Location: B3, 99, Wangfujing Da Jie
Beijing Hualian Emporium
Location: 1 Fuwai Da Jie, Xicheng District
Rice Smart (Haidian District Branch)
Location: A18, Xueqing Lu, Haidian District

Clothing: Parkson Plaza (101, Fuxingmennei Da Jie), Scitech Plaza (22, Jianguomenwai Da Jie) or Beijing Department Store (255, Wangfujing Da Jie), Xidan Shopping Center (132, Xidan Bei Da Jie) and Tianyuan Lisheng Sports Articles Emporium (201, Wangfujing Da Jie, Dongcheng District) are the usual choices of local people.

Books & Videos
Xinhua Book Store (Wangfujing Branch)
Address: 218, Wangfujing Da Jie (south end), Dongcheng District
Beijing Book Building: the largest retail book store in China now.
Address: 17, Xi Chang'an Street, Xicheng District
Electrical Appliances: Guo Mei Electrical Appliances Store, a linkage retail commerce enterprise operates homemade, joint, imported household electrical appliance and computer.
Location: about 300 meters (over 328 yards) south of the turning of Qianmen Lu
Stamps & postcard: are available in most of the book stores or newspaper booths.