Shopping
     The metropolis of Beijing has several shopping districts offering a mind-boggling variety of goods. The traditional shopping districts have been always Huangfujin Street, Qianmen Street, Dongdan and Xidan Commercial Street but now it seems that Jianguomen Wai Street and Chaowai Street have risen to the top for the latest and most luxurious items. Shopping at outdoor markets remains not-to-be-missed experience for foreign travelers.

    Panjiayuan Collection Market
    Panjiayuan Market is an open-air holiday market selling old arts & crafts. Over 4000 stalls offer abundant old merchandise including old books published during the Culture Revolution, Jade bracelet, ancient furniture, hand-made porcelains, calligraphy, paintings and Cultural Revolution propaganda posters.

    Liulichang Street
    Liulichang Street of Chinese Culture is located south of the Peace Gate of Xuanwu District in Beijing. During the time of Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a colored glaze factory (Liuli Chang in Chinese) was in production there, which made glazed tiles for the palaces, temples and residences of the officials, hence the name. Rongbaozhai and China Bookshop. The most famous shop in the Liulichang Street of Chinese Culture is Rongbaozhai Bookshop. Built in the early years of Qing Dynasty, it now particularly sells authentic calligraphy and paintings of both ancient and modern authors in China. It is also well-known for an expert copy technique; the products from this method cannot be easily distiguished from the original. Another also reputed across the country is the China Bookshop, where you can buy block-printed editions and hand-copied books of the ancient times.

    Beijing Curio City
    It is the largest curio distribution center in Asia. The curio city covers an area about 23,400 square meters (5.8 acres). There are about 500 stores dealing with ancient porcelain, paintings, calligraphy, jade, carving, bronze ware, antique furniture, carpet, clocks and jewelry. Every year, the curio city holds several regular exhibitions to show the curios and art treasures. There are also many exhibition fairs, auctions, as well as lectures on curio knowledge. The Folk Culture Festival in January, Auction Week in May and Exhibition Fair in October are the most popular activities amongst them.

    Xiushui Street
    Xiushui Street( Silk Market) is replete with some of the finest silk products, as well as an amazing arrays of name-brand clothes, bags such as Reebok, Adidas. But very few of these top labels are the real thing despite their uncanny resemblance. Xiushui Street is the one of the few places in Beijing where foreign can purchase clothes and shoes in large sizes.

    Huairou Cloisonné Factory
    The Huairou cloisonné factory close to the Mutianyu Great Wall is the best place to purchase cloisonné. You will find other places that sells similar looking products even at a much cheaper price, however, please keep in mind that there is a huge industry in China in the sale of fake products. This is illegal but it does not alter the fact that this is a common practice. A little more outlay often avoids the disappointment of being fooled by fake products.