Beijing Shopping Tips by honestjohn

Hongqiao Market (meaning: Red Bridge Market): Best place to buy Souvenirs Hongqiao Market (Pearl Market) Review

The Red Bridge Market is a very big store for the tourist to buy souvenir, antiques, and other interesting stuff. Even the local resident like to go shopping here. The former president of US, Bill Clinton, visited the market when visiting China.

What to buy: souvenir, antique, silk, pearl

What to pay: It depends what you buy. My advice: when you bargain, offer at least 50% discount when buy antiques.

Address: Just near the east gate of Temple of Heaven

Directions: when you get out of the Temple of Heaven from the east gate, look to your left-front side, you will see the red bridge market, a 5-floor building.

Theme: Antiques

Xiushuidongjie: Silk Alley Silk Market Review

Silk Alley lies in Xiushuidong Jie off Jianguomenwai Dajie, near US Embassy. It is a good place to buy cheaper goods and the resident foreigners in Beijing come here frequently. Whatever you want to buy, like bags, shoes, handicrafts or sweaters, you can bargain with the owners.

What to buy: bags, shoes, handicrafts, sweaters, etc

What to pay: good place to bargain

Address: North of Jiangguomenwai Dajie

Directions: about 1km east of Friendship Store

Theme: Women's Clothes

Zhong Guan Cun Street: the best street to buy computers and electronics

The Zhong Guan Cun Street is the most famous street, which houses hundreds computer stores. Most of the computer parts sold there are made in China, and have a low price with good quality. If you want buy a computer or computer periphery fittings, the street should be your first and last choise.

What to buy: computer and computer related electronics, periphery fittings, hardware

What to pay: It depends. due to the low profit on pc hardware, it's very difficult to bargain. If you lucky, you can get a 95% or even 90% discount.

Address: Northwest corner on Beijing city map

Directions: it's a long street, the famous universities, Beijing University and Tsinghua university, China people's university, and the Friendship Hotel located alongside it.

Theme: Computers and Electronics

There are many shops along side Wangfujing Street: Wangfujing Street, Most famous shopping street Wangfujing Street Review

Wangfujing, a seven hundred-year-old commercial street, houses a wide variety of shops and boutiques where you can find all kinds of commodities, some of which are of world-famous brands. The Oriental Plaza (Dongfang Guangchang) is the biggest store in Wangfujing.

Besides modern department stores, the Foreign Language Bookstore is also in this area. The Old-Beijing-Street is now seated underground, which was built and decorated in Ming and Qing style. The outstanding characteristic of it is the centralized well-known longstanding stores selling shoes, caps, silk cloth, scissors, Chinese brushes and ink-stick, jade articles, tea, desserts, pickled vegetables, roast ducks and so on.

The most popular sites for souvenir photos are the sculptures on both street sides, reflecting life of old Beijing.

What to buy: various kind goods you can buy here. because Wangfujing is a long street, that houses many shops.

Address: at the east side of the famous hotel,Beijing Hotel

Directions: located to the east of Tiananmen Square and stretches from Chinese Art Gallery to the Dongchan'an Avenue

Theme: Department Store