1800What? Beijing Windows

Archive for August 2nd, 2008

Aug 02 2008

Wangfujing Street Beijing

Published by Eddy under Other

Wangfujing is regarded as the ” First Shopping Street” of China by Chinese people. As a result, it is one of the must see areas in Beijing for travelers from home and abroad.

Wangfujing literally means “Well of Prince’s Mansion” in Chinese. During the Qing dynasty, eight aristocratic estates and princess residence were built here, soon after when a well full of sweet water was discovered; therefore the street was named WANGFUJING.

The major part of the street is for pedestrian only. It starts from Wangfujing St. and Changan Avenue , where the newly built Oriental Plaza and the five star Beijing Hotel are located. It then heads north, passing the Wangfujing Bookstore, the Beijing Department Store as well as the Beijing Foreign Languages Bookstore before ending at the Xin Dong An Plaza. The Wangfujing street is worth strolling even if you do not want to buy anything. Actually, do not expect many good bargains here. When you check the price tag, you will find most of goods are even more expensive than the comparable one you can buy in your home country.

Major Stores

· Oriental Plaza Mall
The Malls at Oriental Plaza consist of individually distinct themed shopping zones covering a vast 120,000 sq. m. area. This upscale shopping mall home many luxury brands such as Gucci and Burberry. The cuisine street at its underground floor is quite good; you can find many local Chinese and Western foods over there.

· Xin Dong An Plaza
This huge mall surrounds twin atriums and is filled with designer clothing shops. Aside from the usual Western food chains — Baskin-Robbins, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, and Delifrance — there’s an excellent hot pot restaurant, Dong Lai Shun, on the fifth floor.

· Beijing Department Store
The Beijing Wangfujing Department Store, which was established in 1955, was the first major department store in China since the establishment of People’s Republic of China. By the end of 1997, the store had quickly adapted to the new competitive economic environment by giving itself a new facelift with total open counters. Such as luxuroius decorative work and modernized lightings & fixtures. Due to the high ceiling of the building, there is no escalator between each floor.

· New China Woman and Children Department Store
This store was established by Soong Ching-ling or Madme Sun Yat-sen.

· Traditional Chinese Craft Stores
The most famous ones are Wuyutai Tea Shop-Since 1887, Ruifuxiang Silk-Since 1862, Rongbaozhai Art Gallery-Since 1672.

Food

There are two Food Republic, which is a food court chain run by the BreadTalk Group based in Singapore, in the Wangfujing area, one is at the underground floor of Oriental Plaza, and the other one is at the 6th floor of the Xin Dong An Plaza. If you are in a rush, several McDonald’s, KFC and other western fast food chain stores are available on street corners. The famous Dong Lai Shun Hotpot and Quan Ju De Beijing Roasted Duck have their respective flagship restaurant in this area as well.

Hotels

Since it’s the downtown area and very close to major attractions and business district of Beijing, hotels in Wangfujing area usually charges 10% - 50% more than similar standard hotels in other areas of Beijing

· Luxury Hotels:
The Peninsula Hotel Beijing(5 star), Beijing Hotel(5), Beijing Grand Hotel(5), Grand Hyatt Hotel(5), Prime Hotel(5), Wangfujing Grand Hotel(5). Tianlun Dynasty Hotel(5), Crown Plaza Hotel(5), Regent Hotel(5), Legendale Hotel (5)

· Quality Hotels:
Novotel Peace Hotel (4 star), Taiwan Hotel (3), Tianlun Songhe Hotel (3), Park Plaza Hotel(4), North Garden Hotel(4)

· Economic Hotels:
Dawan Hotel (2 star), Fuhao Hotel(2)

Transportation

Wangfujing Street is conveniently located in the central area of Beijing. There are many public transportation routes into Wangfujing area. The most efficient method is to take subway line 1 at “Wangfujing Station” or subway line 5 at “Dongdan Station”.