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Beijing Shopping

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Updated:: Sep 16, 2009;
by:: China Highlights;
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The metropolis of Beijing has several shopping districts offering a mind-boggling variety of goods. The traditional shopping districts have been always Wangfujing Street, Qianmen Street, Dongdan and Xidan Commercial Street, but now it seems that Jianguomen Outer Street and Chaowai Street have risen to the top for the latest and most luxurious items. Shopping at outdoor markets remains a not-to-be-missed experience for foreign travelers. Check out the Panjiayuan Collection Street, Xiushui Street and Liulichang Street for local specialties such as cloisonné, ivory carvings, jade pieces, lacquer carvings, antiques and fresh water pearls.

Liulichang Culture Street

Liulichang Culture Street, a few minutes' walk from the south of Hepingmen Subway Station, is a great place for shopping in terms of both variety and atmosphere. Shops are open from 9am to 6pm. The street is thought to have originated in the Qing Dynasty, which is evidenced by the ancient wooden architecture lining both sides of the street. Products sold here include jewelry, antiques, ancient calligraphy and paintings. Enjoy the pleasure of bargaining when you decide to buy something.

Panjiayuan Collectors Market

(18, Huawei Li, Panjiayuan Road, Chaoyang District)

Panjiayuan Market is an open-air market selling old arts and crafts. It is reputed that marketers from twenty-four provinces come here to sell their wares. Over four thousand stalls offer abundant old merchandise, including old books published during the Culture Revolution, jade bracelets, ancient furniture, hand-made porcelain, calligraphy, paintings and Cultural Revolution propaganda posters. All the things you can imagine and many things you can't imagine are available. However, most of the things on offer are fakes.

Every weekend, millions of visitors come here looking for treasure. Serious collectors are the early birds. Although it is very rare, people have been reported to find priceless ancient treasure. Perhaps that's the real reason why so many people gather here to try their luck each weekend. You may not be lucky enough to find a Ming Dynasty vase or valuable jade pieces from the Qing Dynasty, but wandering around watching the locals doing their business is a fascinating experience.

The market can be chaotic and is usually very crowded. Please keep an eye on your property in the milling crowd. Make a few rounds and compare prices before buying anything. Bargaining is expected.

Xiushui Street

(Xiushui Dongjie (Xiushui East Street), off Jianguomen Outer Street, near the US Embassy)

Xiushui Street has a silk market (open 9am to 9pm), replete with some of the finest silk products, as well as an amazing array of name-brand clothes, bags such as Reebok, Adidas and Gucci. However, very few of these top labels are the real thing despite their uncanny resemblance. This is probably the reason that serious shoppers usually avoid this market, but there are still a lot of interesting things to see and to do. The fun of the place may not come in searching for the perfect bag or best shirt, it comes in the haggling. It may yield a feeling of accomplishment when you purchase an item at maybe 30 percent of the original price. “No price is fixed” is the golden rule there. The more you haggle, the better price you may get. Xiushui Street is the one of the few places in Beijing where foreigners can purchase clothes and shoes in large sizes.

Huairou Cloisonné Factory

The Huairou cloisonné factory, close to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, is the best place to purchase cloisonné. You will find other places that sell similar looking products, even at much cheaper prices, but please keep in mind that there is a huge industry in China in the sale of fake products. This is illegal, but it does not alter the fact that this is a common practice. A little more outlay often avoids the disappointment of being fooled by fake products.

You can also watch the workers at all stages of the manufacturing process to see how these beautiful objects are produced.

Yaxiu Clothes Market (Sanlitun Road)

This four-floor store offers all the Chinese clothing your could need in various styles and colors. Ruifuxiang, a famous shop selling qipaos (tradidional Chinese dresses) is located on the third floor. They have lots of traditional silk products on sale, and you can have your qipao tailor-made to your special requirements.

Book Stores

Beijing Xinhua Book Store, Wangfujing Branch: 218, Wangfujing Street (south end), Dongcheng District.
Beijing Book Building: 17 Chang'an Street, Xicheng District.
Beijing Wangfujing Foreign Language Book Store: 235 Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District.

Liulichang Culture Street

The Liulichang Culture Street, a few minutes' walk from the south of Hepingmen Subway Station is a great place for shopping in terms of both variety and atmosphere. The street is thought to have originated from Qing Dynasty, which is evidenced by the ancient wooden architecture lining either side of the street. Products sold here include jewelry, antiques, and ancient calligraphy and paintings. Enjoy the pleasure of bargaining when you decide to buy something.

Location: Outside Hepingmen

Opening time: From 9 am to 6 pm

Panjiayuan Collection Market

Panjiayuan Market is an open-air holiday market selling old arts & crafts. Over 4000 stalls offer abundant old merchandise including old books published during the Culture Revolution, Jade bracelet, ancient furniture, hand-made porcelains, calligraphy, paintings and Cultural Revolution propaganda posters. All the thing you can imagine and many thing you can't imagine are available. But most of things on the shelves are fake.

Every weekend, millions of visitors come here looking for treasure. Serious collectors are the early birds. Although it is very rare, people have been reported to find priceless ancient treasure. Perhaps that's the real reason why so many people gather here to try their lucks each weekend. You may not be lucky enough to find the Ming Dynasty vase or jade pieces from the Qing Dynasty but wandering around watching the locals doing their business is a fascinating experience.

Note:The market can be chaos and usually very crowded. Please keep an eye on your properties in the chaotic crowd. Make a few rounds and compare price before buying anything. Bargaining is expected.

Location: 18, Huawei Li, Panjiayuan Road, Chaoyang District

Beijing Hongqiao Market

Beijing Hongqiao market is located in the south central area of Beijing, just to the east of the Temple of Heaven. It is an indoor mall with a seafood market in the basement and about 3 floors up. It is filled mainly with cheap electronic goods like portable CD players, vcd players, camcorders, batteries, sunglasses, electronics, household phones.The items for sale are less brand conscious and tend to be from real "no-name" Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Thai companies.

Beijing Hongqiao market features locally manufactured products. The vendors here are really doing wholesale deals but will gladly entertain retail customers. Pearls are of great value here.

Beijing LaiTai Flower Trade Center

Founded on April 18th, 1998,Beijing LaiTai Flower & Plant Co., LTD covers 55000 square meters; it composes Beijing LaiTai flower shopping mall, Laitai flower auction center and Laitai Flower Street. It is the Northern biggest flower gathering and spreading center which has multiple services, including flower wholesale, flower retail, Export-Import business, domestic staple trade, flower auction, information network.,etc.

Jiayixiong Jewelry Co. Ltd

China's freshwater pearls are celebrated throughout the world. See how they are produced including some of the latest technology, and learn how to spot a fake. The outlet also offers a range of items produced from pearls and pearl oysters which goes far wider than jewellery.