Shopping in Beijing can be an exciting and exhilarating experience, however before you embark on your shopping expedition to Beijing’s many teeming malls and animated markets you should get to know the best places to find a bargain.

The Top 5 Places to Shop in Beijing are: -

Silk Alley Market

The Silk Alley Market is one of the most popular shopping destinations in Beijing. The market was originally an open air market until 2005, it is now housed in a five storey shopping-center like building located on Xiushuidong Jie near the US Embassy. This market is a great place to buy knock-offs of many popular branded products like Puma and Nike sneakers and Northface jackets as well as pirated DVDs and CD. However the government is currently cracking down on many of these counterfeit good vendors. The market also has a food court and supermarket on its lower levels while on the other floors there are vendors who retail men and women’s apparel, cashmere sweaters, luggage, shoes and accessories and bedding and house wares. On the higher floors there are vendors who sell Chinese traditional handicrafts, jewelry and precious stones as well as children’s toys. Bargaining is the mantra at the Silk Alley market.

Hongqiao Market

The Hongqiao Market or the Pearl market which is located in the Chongwen district of Beijing and is renowned the world over for its three stories of pearls. Here you can shop for freshwater, seawater, cultured, black, pink, and ivory pearls at the many stores which sell a vast variety of these pearls. The quality and prices of these pearls however varies from vendor to vendor. In addition to pearls, some vendors at Hongqiao market also retail tourist staples like knock -ff handbags and watches.

Yaxiu Market

Located near the nightlife district of Sanlitun, this market which is also housed in a mall is extremely popular with young western shoppers who love to shop at the mall for knock -off brand name apparel and shoes. Prices at Yaxiu Market tend to be slightly lower than those at the Silk Alley market. The mall also houses many Beijing tailors who can rustle bespoke shirts, jackets, dresses and shirts for you in a couple of days at extremely reasonable prices.

Panjiayuan Market

The Panjiayuan Market is a weekend open air flea market that is held on the southeast corner of the Third Ring Road in the district of Chaoyang. The flea market which is made up of approximately 3000 stalls opens at dawn and trading usually continues here until 4pm. The Panijiayuan Market is a favorite with tourists who come here in search of various Chinese ‘antiques’ and tchotchkes. However the so called ‘antiques’ sold here are largely reproductions of typical Chinese artifacts like antique silk screens, Buddha statutes , jade bangles, porcelain vases etc though you might sometimes chance on some authentic memorabilia which from the period of the Chinese Cultural revolution in the late 1960’s.

The Malls at Oriental Plaza

Spread over 12000 square meters the malls at Oriental Plaza located at Wangfujing Street represent a unique shopping, dining and entertainment experience in Beijing. These malls constitute one of the most popular shopping destinations in Beijing today and are like a city within a city. The malls are divided into six themed sections called Market Square, Metro City, Garden Court, International Boulevard, Wonderful World and Sky Avenue. Many international luxe designers like Max Mara, Burberry, and Valentino have their outlets at these malls along with local fashion brands. The ultra modern malls of Oriental Plaza provide a totally different experience to that offered by the indigenous markets of Beijing where crowds and the art of bargaining are the norms.

Want a visual tour of shopping in Beijing to get yourself prepared? Check out this video.

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Posted in China

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm and is filed under China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.