At 55 Nanluoguxiang you may ask craftsmen to make old Beijing paper-cut works in accordance with your own design. Clothing shops like Shanghai Tailor offers custom-made outfits.
We recommend you have an on-line tour at Nanluoguxiang's English website (www.nlgx.org) beforehand. It contains a detailed directory of all the shops and recreation sites of the lane.
Maliandao Tea Street
This is a must for both local tea lovers and foreign visitors who wish to take home some cha as a gift.
The 1,500-meter-long street is located outside the Guang'anmen (a famous city gate) in the west Second Ring Road and can be reached by buses 46, 414 and 609.
The largest tea market in the city, it is home to more than 100 shops and five large tea stores. The beauty of the place is you could pick up your cup of tea from among a variety of tea products coming in from all the major production regions around China.
This gives you more choices than most individual tea shops in the city. You may smell and taste any kind of tea before making your final decision.
Shop owners will offer you tips on how to make genuine Chinese tea.
Wangfujing Street
Directly east of Tiananmen Square, this may be the first stop on your shopping tour after arriving in Beijing. It is on subway Line 1 and the routes of many buses.
Stretching more than 1.8 km, it's often crowded with window shoppers, checking out the famous brand name stores, most of which are found in the grand Oriental Plaza mall.
Sun Dong An Plaza, a magnet for the young, is another popular mall: bright and full of life.
Check out the Wangfujing Arts and Crafts Building for traditional Chinese art and craft works as well as quality jewellery.
You also should not miss the chance to see time-honored Chinese brands, such as Shengxifu hats and Tongbihe shoes.
And if you're looking for a good book, you may find it in the Wangfujing Book Store.
Wangfujing food street
For visitors not familiar with traditional Chinese street food, what they put in their mouth could be strange, or even challenging.
That said, the seemingly scary deep fried scorpion, locust and cicada pupa have a reputation for being surprisingly tasty snacks.
Beijing's famous speciality, bingtang hulu, or sugar-coated fruit, is a must.
Dashilan and New Qianmen Street
If you're wondering how it was to shop in ancient Beijing, we recommend a half-day trip around Dashilan commercial area and New Qianmen Street.
It can be reached by taking subway Line 2 to Qianmen. The whole area now is near the end of a reconstruction launched in May and will open to the public before the Olympics.
Founded nearly six centuries ago, Dashilan is famous for its ancient architecture. It has been home to many time-honored Chinese brands with histories as long as the buildings.
