Wangfujing StreetA ~ Z

Introducing the Wangfujing Street

Wangfujing, literally means Prince Mansion Well, is located in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is the number one shopping street in Beijing and China, with many clothing outlets, souvenir shops, fast food restaurants, century old establishments and two fancy shopping malls - Beijing APM and Oriental Plaza. The total length of Wangfujing Street is 1,600 meters with East Chang’an Avenue as the south start and China Art Museum as the north end. The majority of the main area, the south part (800 meters), is a walking street and very popular shopping place for both tourists and local people. The Wangfujing Street has a history of more than 700 years, which dates back to the 13th century of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). At that time, there were some government offices located along the street. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), there have been commercial activities in this place. And because of the ten Prince and three Princess Mansions built in this area, it was named Prince Mansion Street. In 1905 of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), after a well full of sweet water was discovered, the street got its present name Wangfujing. Wang Fu means Prince Mansion; and Jing refers to the water well located in the middle of the street.


Featured Spots

Oriental Plaza

The Oriental Plaza is located in the south start of the Wangfujing Street; it is one of the largest and most iconic commercial complexes in Asia. The Tower Offices at Oriental Plaza comprise eight Class A office blocks, and are home to some leading multinational corporations in Beijing. The Tower Apartments at Oriental Plaza feature two luxury apartment buildings. The five-star Grand Hyatt Beijing is located in the center, featuring world-class facilities and services, including one of the most spectacular landscaped tropical indoor pools in the world. The Malls at Oriental Plaza consist of individually distinct themed shopping zones covering a vast area of more than 130,000 square meters, with several floors of international high-end retailers, from Burberry, Mango, Apple, Sony, Armani, Givenchy, Swarovski Valentino, and Sisley to Paul Smith etc.

Wangfujing Book Store

The Wangfujing Book Store is one of Beijing’s biggest and most comprehensive bookstores. It is located to the north of the famous Oriental Plaza. The bookstore covers an area of 18,000 square meters with 10 floors, 8 floors above the ground and 2 floors under the ground. It covers a wide range of books, multimedia and electronic products, from politics, economy, culture, language, sports, arts, cartoons to science etc. As for foreigners, on the third floor, there are some books of original English editions and a good range of Chinese language learning materials.

Beijing Arts and Crafts Central Store

The Beijing Art and Crafts Central Store, also called Gongmei Dasha in Chinese, has a history of 50 years. It is located to the north of the Wangfujing Book Store, and is the largest Arts and Crafts store in Beijing which covers an area of 32,000 square meters, with 9 floors above the ground and 4 floors under the ground. The store covers a wide range of products, including jewelry, arts souvenirs, silk, carpets, cloisonné, lacquer ware paintings, calligraphy, fans and jade etc. It is one of the best places in Beijing to buy authentic handicrafts with certificates of authenticity. On the 6th and 7th floor, there is a store with the factory prices of some famous clothes brands, like Adidas, Nike, Levis, Apple, New Balance and so on.

Beijing APM

The Beijing APM is located in the north end of the Wangfujing Walking Street. It is also called Xindongan Guangchang, and APM means am+pm=APM. The Beijing APM is one of the city’s most popular shopping malls. It is full of mid-range clothes shops like ZARA, Gap, G-star Raw, C&A, Nine West and Esprit etc, as well as the largest Apple Store in Asia. On the fifth floor, there are also a lot of famous restaurants, including the main branch of the most popular Hot Pot restaurant, Donglaishun.

Wangfujing Food Street

The Wangfujing Snack Street is located in the hutongs, just to the west of the main street. It is one of the most popular snack streets in Beijing, densely packed with restaurants and street food stalls, as well as souvenir shops. The Wangfujing Snack Street covers an area of 2,000 square meters with 500 kinds of snacks from all over China. The food stalls serve a wide variety of common and exotic street food. The most common and popular ones are Rou Chuaner (meat kebabs, commonly made of lamb or chicken) and desserts, such as Tanghulu or candied fruits on a stick. Offal soup, bugs, sheep’s balls and silk worms are some of the exotic examples.

Opening Hours

10:00 - 22:00

Price

Entrance Fee: Free

Address

Wangfujing Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing

北京市东城区王府井大街

Distance

Downtown

Getting There

Subway:

Line 1 Wangfujing Station Exit A

Taxi:

请带我到北京王府井书店

(Please take me to the Wangfujing Book Store)

Travel Tips

Better not to try anything in the Food Street

Last Updated

2018-05-04 17:02:34

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