Shopping - Wang Fu Jing in China

Wangfujing street China and its surroundings have quite a selection of shopping options.

There are two western style, modern malls in China. One has an English name written on it saying "Sun Dong An", which is confusing because its Chinese name is "Xin Dong An". This one is the older of the two, situated on the center crossroads of Wangfujing street, China 12 minutes walk north of the subway station.

It has 6 floors of shops and some pretty glass elevators. Here you can find fashion stores, souvenirs, cafes and restaurants, a cinema and a built-in large department store with some reasonably priced high-quality electronics.

The second of the two malls is near the subway and is called Oriental Plaza. This is a huge complex and one of the biggest malls in Asia. It has only 2 floors, but it stretches for a few city blocks. It is so big there are subway stations more or less at each end. It takes about 15 minutes to walk the length, if you are a quick walker.

Oriental Plaza has many fashion stores, a lot of cafes and restaurants, a cinema, an Apple Computer center, VW Audi car showroom, Sony science exhibition center, banks and lots more.

Apart from the malls there are many large, tradional department stores, souvenir stores, and a side street with tradional Chinese food stalls.

Wangfujing is not merely a shopping street but a whole experience. There are often large exhibitions and festivals held on the street. Check out our Tourist Trail - Wangfujing section for more details about why people come to the street and some more pictures.

Near Oriental Plaza there is one of the largest book stores in Beijing, China the Wangfujing Book Store. This is 6 floors of books, mainly Chinese but has a large selection of Chinese literature translated into English. You can also find books for studying the Chinese language and some maps and guide books in English. Credit cards are accepted in the book store and many of the larger stores in both malls.

Wangfujing is located pretty much in the center of Beijing in China and is not too far from Tiananmen Square. You can get there by subway. The Wangfujing station (118) on Line 1 has an exit which takes you directly into Oriental Plaza. The other option is to go by taxi. The south end has a large taxi rank, opposite the Beijing Hotel in China. The rank is the only place where taxis are allowed to drop off or pickup, so don't try stopping one anywhere else when you leave. The Chinese name for Wangfujing is written below. Print and hand to your taxi driver.