In Beijing, all kinds of gifts, souvenirs, and other things are available. For foreign tourists in Beijing, porcelains, silks, antiques, jade, are always the best gifts and souvenirs for friends and relatives. Major shopping items: Porcelain, Cloisonné, Lacquerware, Jade, Painting &Calligraphy Serolls, Handicrafts (Dough modeling, Clay figurines and animals, Toy Monkeys, Papercutting, Kites, Snuff bottles, Bone products, Embroidery & drawn work). The detailed information upon shopping places in Beijing is presented as follows:

Wangfujing

Address: Located at the northern side of Chang’an East Street of the center of the city.

History: With more than 700 years’ long history, it came into being in the Yuan Dynasty.

Features: There, you can not only buy clothes, shoes and food… but can appreciate lots of Chinese traditional buildings along the street, such as the Oriental Plaza, Gongmei Building ,Wangfujing Department Store, Moslem Building, Sun Dong An Plaza and so on. Now it is considered as the sister street of Champs Elysees in France. Full of beautiful things in eyes absorb 500,000 people everyday to feel its attractive charm.

 

Qianmen

Address: Located in the south of the Tian’anmen square.

History: A commercial center of Beijing more than 500 years’ long history.

Features: There, you can buy Chinese traditional products. Qianmen area has been rebuilt following the architecture style of the Ming and Qing Dynastyt and now the old and famous shops just like the Quanjude, Pianyi Workshop, Douyichu, all representing the Chinese traditional culture, are gathered there.

 

Silver Street

Address: Located in the Dongdan Beidajie.

History: In the old times, it was the vane of the fashion. It was the concentration place of those franchised foreign name-brand.

Features: However, after reconstruction, the Silver Street presents another different feature. With a length of 2.7 kilometers from the entrance of Dongdan to the entrance of the Dongsi, it is the combination of tradition and modern, simplicity and fad. The regionally characteristic of the products is in the leading station. You can find the accouterment of Tibet just like the ring, necklace and so on. There are too many stores like this. Undoubtly, you will find the suitable things for yourself.

 

Silk Market

Address: Located in Xiushuidong Jie (East Xiushui Street) off Jianguomenwai Dajie, near the US Embassy.

Features: “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 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. On weekdays the Silk Street attracts assembly 20,000 visitors daily (9am to 9pm) and about 50,000 to 60,000 on weekends. Worthy of its name, the Silk Street is full of the beautiful silk products (pajamas, robes, shirts, scarves and so on )as well as the textiles (cashmere scarves, clothes of all types, tablecloths, 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.

 

Sanlitun Market

Address: Located in Sanlitun.

Features: The famous Bar Street, also well-known for its free market. During the daytime, the side of the street across from all of the bars is lined with stalls selling mostly clothing. The good thing about this market as compared to department stores is that you can bargain for prices, and they have larger sizes.

 

Tourism-administration-designated-stores

Address: Beijing's hutongs (alleys) and siheyuan (courtyards).

History: Century-old

Features: Their fame and location in some of the most bustling downtown areas keep them busy but, at the same time, the stores are small and offer a relatively poor shopping environment. And competition is rising from the rubble of modern construction. In recent years, most traditional stores have made changes to keep up with their rivals, including renovating their rivals, including renovating their facades and interior decorations, and upgrading services. Shopping in some of the best of the stores can be a unique Chinese experience.

 

Liulichang

Address: a street located in Xuanwumen.

Features: Liulichang is a good place to find a wide selection of antiques. There, many of the stores are quite old. This area has everything from scrolls, to jade articles to decades old cigarette ad posters. There are definitely treasures to be found here, but it is hard to tell genuine antiques from dirty fakes. Real antiques are supposed to bear a red official seal that proves their authenticity, but sometimes real ones don't have it and fake ones do. The best attitude to have is: if you like it and you can bargain down to a price you can accept, just go for it. Small jade articles and silver trinkets make great presents for people at home and they are easy to take on the plane.

 

Antiques City

Address :Located at Panjiayuan.

Features :This is a multi-story building which is full of antiques and general kitsch. The same rules apply here as in Liulichang: if you like it, get it. Don't worry whether it is fake or not. Many of the things are not real antiques, but on the other hand, recently a 50,000-year-old fossil was confiscated from one of the sellers there. The fossil was on sale for about US$150, so you never know.

 

Beijing Curio City

Features: Beijing Curio City, gathering more than 250 curio shops under one roof, is China's largest trade center for antiques and fold art works. Many of the dealers are themselves connoisseurs and curio collectors. Antiques that date before 1795 are forbidden for sale or export. Those dated between 1796 and 1949 should bear a small red seal and a Certificate for Relics Export from the Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau(BCRB), to allow them to be taken out of China. The seal also proves the genuineness of the items. A word of caution: keep receipts which should indicate the name and age of the antiques if these items are bought in BCRB designated stores.

 

Special Touring Regions:

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