4shopper.com

Chinese name: 大栅栏（dà zhà lán）
Lying to the northwest of Qianmen Dajie, Da Zha Lan is also a busy street in Xuanwu District. The street was named as Lang Fang Si Tiao in the past. It is 300 meters (328 yards) long but a bit narrow. Both sides of the street are crowded with stores which are busy with visitors coming and going everyday. As a flourishing old street, there are many special time honored shops passed down from older generations. Tongrentang Chinese Herbal Medicine Pharmacy, which was opened in 1669 is the most famous pharmacy for Chinese herbal medicine in the country. Ruifuxiang Silk and Leather Store which started in 1893 offers all kinds of beautiful high quality silk. Da Zha Lan is also under reconstruction and will be open to the public by the end of this year.

Bus Route: 2, 20, 48, 59, 120, 729, 744, 803, 819, 826 (get off at Dazhalan Stop)

Bars, restaurants and shops line the streets of the Sanlitun (also often referred to as the Sanlitun Entertainment Area, Sanlitun Embassy Area and, tellingly, the Sanlitun Bar Street). Long a favorite among expats, travelers and budget tourists, Sanlitun restaurants and bars stay open late, and a number of shops cater to international tastes. It’s not the cheapest Beijing neighborhood for a night out or a shopping spree, but there’s a little bit of everything on offer within the area on either side of the north-south Sanlitun Lu. The Liangma River and Liangmahe Lu form the northern boundary of the Sanlitun Embassy Area, which is home to some of the swankier eateries. Running south for about 1.5 km (1 miles), the bars cluster around Sanlitun Lu between east-west streets Dongzhimenwai Dajie and Gongrentiyuchang Beilu, with a lower-key set of bars and pubs on Sanlitun Nanlu, running parallel to Sanlitun Lu to the west, just east of Worker’s Stadium.

During the day, the shopping is excellent, with a range of choices from tiny alleyway bargain spots to upscale boutiques to the massive five-story Yashou Clothing Market (on Gongrentiyuchang Beilu between Sanlitun and Xin Donglu to the west), home to not only clothes but also bolts of silk and other fabrics, shoes and bags, watches, jade, pearls and almost anything else you’d expect to be able to haggle over in Beijing. Check out alleyways and side streets, where you’ll often find the best deals and most surprising finds. Most vendors and restaurant staff speak enough English to do basic business. Bargain vigorously and be wary of fakes.

How to get there:
No metro stops convenient as of now. Cabs and local bus routes. The intersections of Sanlitun Lu and Dongzhimenwai Dajie or Sanlitun and Nongzhanguan Lu will put you in a good spot to go from on foot. Some of the best bars are further south on Sanlitun Nan Lu, just east of Worker’s Stadium.

Chinese name: 王府井大街（wáng fǔ jǐng dà jiē）
Wangfujing Dajie starts with East Chang’an Avenue in the south and ends with China Art Gallery in the north. This 700-year-old commercial street is 810 meters (0.5 miles) long and 40 meters (43.7 yards) wide. It is the busiest street in Beijing and there are 600,000 people every day come and go in the street and on holidays, the number can rise to 1,200,000. The first famous business zone in Beijing houses a wide variety of shops and boutiques where you find commodities, some of which are of world-famous brands. Apart from that, there are also many time honored stores with traditional commodities standing in the street for hundreds of years. Nowadays Wangfujing Dajie is a modern commercial street which is said to be the sister street of the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The Old-Beijing-Street which is located on Wangfujing Dajie (-1/F, Xin Dong An Plaza) is an underground street built in Ming and Qing styles. The outstanding characteristic of it is the centralized well-known longstanding stores selling shoes, caps, silk cloth, scissors, Chinese brushes and ink-stick, jade, teas, desserts, pickled vegetables and roast duck. Beijing Craftwork and Art Mansion specially operates various industrial arts and artworks, and is famed all over Beijing, and is an old shop in Wangfujing Street.

Except for that, there are also many stores highly praised by tourists on Wangfujing Dajie with their unique features. Shengxifu Hat Shop which opened in 1911 is a special one which sells hats only for nearly 100 years. You can find different hats ranging from the old style one to the modern fashion one there. And Yong Zheng Tailors Shop is the most famous tailors shop with excellent techniques of sewing men formal dress in Beijing. Customers can enjoy the superior service here and it is said that the shop has even offered special services for state leaders and stars. Xin Dong An Plaza and Beijing Department Building are large-size general merchandise retail shops in China. These modern shopping malls show the fashion and vivid vigor of the ancient city, and nearly all the up-to-date goods of world big brands can be found here. Additionally, there are many old stores selling the tasty local dishes in Wangfujing Street and they will make your mouth watery, such as Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant and Donglaishun.

Tips:
1. There are davenports every several meters prepared for you to have a rest. And you can also use the shopping barrows along the street for free.

2. Visitors can take a sightseeing bus at south end of the street which runs through Wangfujing Dajie and Nanheyan Dajie. Tourist guide on the bus can introduce the history and main scenic spots along the street in detail. The bus runs 50 minutes altogether with 8 stops.
3. Bus Route: 10, 20, 37, 41, 59, 120, 126, 203, 205, 420, 802 (get off at Wangfujing Stop)
Subway: Line 1 (get off at Wangfujing Stop)