One of the most popular shopping areas frequented by locals and tourists is Xidan Area. There are at least 6 huge shopping malls here that sell a variety of interesting things at affordable rates. The malls resemble US departmental stores and are constructed in old fashioned, traditional Chinese style.

Almost all the malls have a total of six to seven floors. The topmost floor usually has shops that sell high fashion clothing, accessories and electronics. You will find an extensive selection of electronic items such as Hi-fi, DVD and TV here.

You will also find a giant mobile phone mall in addition to the main malls. Here you will find a stunning range of mobile phones in all three floors. Xidan Area also features two of the largest book stores in Beijing namely the Xinhua Book Store and Beijing Books Building. Though most of the books here are Chinese, you can also find a section selling foreign language books.

Main Street that connects the malls to the station features a lot of clothing stores. Here you can find mid-quality, mid-range, highly affordable Hong Kong and Chinese brands. On your visit to the main Xidan mall, go to the upper floors where you will find women’s fashion accessory stores. You can shop to your heart’s content for a variety of attractive accessories such as necklaces, sunglasses, belts, earrings, watches and scarves.

The Yu Chen Hand Painting Store sells unique hand-painted T-shirts, ties, undergarmets, masks, sneakers, bags and socks. Yu Chen is located between the famous Xidan shopping street and Zhongnanhai, a beautiful artificial lake that surrounds the municipal government.

If you love collecting antiques, the best place to find the very essence of Chinese culture is Liulichang Street in Beijing. Tourists flock this street to find exquisite Chinese paintings, handicrafts, antiques and calligraphy works.

This street is close to Xicheng District’s Peace Gate. Liulichang was popular for its glaze materials. Right from 1271, as early as in Yuan Dynasty, supply of glazed tiles for palace decorations went from the glaze factories in this area.

In fact, Liulichang has provided the glaze materials for Yuan, Ming and Ling dynasties. Glazed tiles from here were used to decorate mansions, palaces and gardens including the famous Summer Palace and Forbidden City.

A lot of antiques from the palaces came into the market after the collapse of Qing Dynasty in 1911. Liulichang became one of the most famous distribution centers of calligraphy works, antiques, handicrafts and Chinese paintings. At the Liulichang Antiques Street, you will find many Chinese featured items such as ink-stick, calligraphy brush, rice paper and ink-slab.

Liulichang Street as you find it today was renovated in 1980s. Tourists flock this street to purchase exquisite Chinese artifacts at some of the most renowned shops. The oldest shops here are in existence for the past 100 years and they employ professionals who are trained at identifying original and authentic antiques.

A trip to Beijing is incomplete without a visit to the attractive and popular Dashila Street. This is the busiest street in Beijing where you will find many traditional, ancient, unique Chinese buildings. In the olden times, this 275 meter long street was called Guanyinsi Street.

Walk on this street and you will be transported right back to those ancient times. There are a total of 8 shops in existence for a long time. Some of the prominent shops include Zhang Yiyuan, Tong Ren Tang, Gou Buli Baozi and Daguan Lou. Dashila features so many shoe shops that it is sometimes referred to as Shoe Street. You can find one of the most popular shoe shops in Tianjin, Laomeihua in this street.

There is no comparing the warmth in the atmosphere here with the old, ancient nostalgic buildings, the brick road and traditional Beijing atmosphere at Dashila Street. Right from olden times, shops in this area were highly recommended. For example Zhang Yiyuan is well known for tea, Heng Deli for watches, Nei Liansheng for shoes, Liubiju for pickles, Zheng Mingzhai for snacks and Ma juyuan for hats.

Decorated with brilliant lights and flags, Dashila Street is a picturesque delight at night. Do not miss a visit to this unique and interesting street on your trip to Beijing.

Jingdezhen Artistic Porcelain Outlet occupies the first floor of the Huizhong Building in Chongwen District. This wonderful shop offers an outstanding collection of porcelain ware made in Jingdezhen, the famous porcelain city in China. The store has a 70-year history and a reputation of being a place with high quality products. You can find everything from exclusive and expensive large ornate porcelain pots to lovely much less expensive porcelain souvenirs.

The Yuan Long Silk Store stands just near the South Gate of the Temple of Heaven. Here you will have the opportunity to be guided through the silk quilt-making process, with women in white lab coats demonstrating how to clean, soak, and stretch the silk of cocoons. You may also take a tour on your own and see the huge variety of silk, velvet, and satin textiles as.

Travel to any city in the world, one of the most attractive tourist attractions people love visiting is the markets. Visitors to Beijing do not leave without browsing around the popular and impressive Pearl Market.
Also called the Hongqiao Market, this market is situated to the east of Temple of Heaven in Beijing’s south central area right opposite Tiantan Park. You can shop to your heart’s content for attractive pearls from around the world.
This market is so popular that it was visited thrice by Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister to purchase pearls. At least 1,000,000 visitors come to this market to buy high quality, affordable pearls. The stunning range of pearls is available in different smoothness, sizes and colors. you can find amazing freshwater pearl, seawater pearl, gems, emerald, coral and other precious stones.
Apart from pearls, the market is also popular for silk, digital products and seafood. The market that covers an area of 4,500 square meters has a total of 8 floors. People come here in large numbers to purchase seafood here. The variety of seafood sold here includes common fish, crab, shrimp and the rare sea pumpkin, shark fin and abalone.
You can also find an impressive and dazzling range of watches and digital products of different brands. China has always been synonymous with silk since ancient times. At the Pearl Market, you can find a variety of high quality silk.