Beijing Shopping

Shopping in Beijing is becoming more convenient by the day. Every year new shopping centers and plazas are sprouting up all over the capital. Just a few years ago there was only a few department stores and small bazaars, but now there are many superstores, mega-malls and markets where you can buy just about anything you need. Recently, the first IKEA just opened in the north of the city. There is a huge PrICE Smart which is a discount wholesale foodstuffs market for cardholders only. The Silk Market at Xiushui Jie and the free market at Sanlitun are also favorites among tourists, expats and locals alike.There are various places to go for shopping, depending on what buyers expect and the prices they are prepared to pay.

Wangfujing
As the most famous commercial area of Beijing, Wangfujing is located at the northern side of Chang’an East Street of the center of the city.. With a long history of more than 700 years, it came into being in the Yuan Dynasty. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was the earliest business activity. Wangfujing became a commercial center when the Dong’an market was founded here in 1903.The street is less than one kilometer long, but it is crowed with specialty shoes and long-history shops, which are full of modern atmosphere and high taste. Now it is considered as the sister street of Champs Elysees in France. Besides of its modern feature, the street also preserves the Chinese traditional style, such as the Oriental Plaza, Gongmei Building ,Wangfujing Department Store, Moslem Building, Sun Dong An Plaza and so on. Full of beautiful things in eyes absorb 500,000 people everyday to feel its attractive charm.

Qianmen
Qianmen is just in the south of the Tian’anmen square.The Qianmen street was a commercial center of Beijing more than 500 years ago. If you are interested in the Chinese traditional products, then it will be a good place to go. Qianmen area has been remedied as per the architecture style of the Ming and Qing Dynastyt from last year and now the old and famous shops just like the Quanjude, Pianyi Workshop, Douyichu, all of which are the representative of the Chinese traditional culture, are congested there.. Indubitably, the atmosphere of the Chinese traditional culture will be felt.

The Silk Market
“The Chinese Silk Street, the World Brand”, as “the third best known tourist destination of Beijng after the Great Wall and Forbidden City, the Silk Street has been popular with the foreign tourists.
The old open market was demolished back in 2005, and in 2006 the new one has been opened with a bang in its new bright and spacious home. This is a seven story building which has everything included. It holds more than 1,700 retail bargainors,well-known among the worldwide tourists for its abundant selection of fake designer brand apparels. On weekdays the Silk Street attracts assumably 20,000 visitors daily(9am to 9pm) and about 50,000 to 60,000 on weekends.
Just as its name, the Silk Street is full of the beautiful silk products (pyjamas, robes, shirts, scarves and so on )as well as the textiles (cashmere scarves, clothes of all types, tableclothes, etc.), and handcrafts. Besides of these, the Silk Street has much more than just silk. The new Silk Street have introduced traditional Chinese handicrafts, antiques, calligraphy, carpets, table cloths, bed coverings, paintings, hand-knit dresses, toys, electronic gadgets, trinkets, and fine jewelry. Everything here can be had way cheaper than at any of the stores in the city, but remember to make the bargain for it.