Shopping in Beijing

On the sidelines of the Beijing Olympics 2008, one will have loads of time to shop from the capital city of People's Republic of China. In Beijing, one will get umpteen places, from where souvenirs can be bought for people back home. The city will undoubtedly prove to be a paradise for people in love with shopping. Here you will find a host of large and medium shopping complexes, where one can find a multitude of items under one roof. The true joy of shopping can be experienced in the city, owing to a range of of shopping destinations to choose from. You can both get a chance to shop for modern accessories, gadgets, clothes etc as well as antiques and locally made goods.

Shopping in Beijing is usually hassle free, as most of the emporiums and designated shopping centers have foreign currency exchange counters and accepts major credit cards. Beijing is flooded with some of the finest shopping malls which offer clothes, accessories, gadgets and other items from all the major international brands. If one is looking for export clothing in Beijing, then you should not miss Xiushui Street and Yaxiu Clothing Wholesale market. The latest commercial hubs of the city are Oriental Plaza, Guomao Shopping Centre and Zhongguancun Square. While some of the old existing shopping complexes of Beijing include Wangfujing Street, Xidan Commercial Street and Qianmen Dashilan.

The Beijing Olympics 2008 are a wonderful opportunity for the visitor to get native art works of China from the city. The Panjiayuan Market has the greatest variety of collected articles in the country. The market is the biggest distributing centre of folk handicrafts. There are over 4,000 shops in the market mainly dealing in antiques, old articles, handiwork, wood carvings, porcelain and crystal ornaments, pottery, bronze wares, embroidered silk, stone carvings and snuff bottles made in Hengshui among other things. Shopping in Beijing is not necessarily a costly exercise as one can purchase native handicrafts such as paper masks, clay figurines, kites and Peking opera mask to take back home as souvenirs.