Wangfujing Snack Street

There once was a Beijing folk song sung like this: “Beijing snack ninety nine, everything tastes dandy and fine.” In Wangfujing Snack Street, you will find hundreds of kinds of snacks, including Muslims snacks such as Xinjiang-style roast leg of lamb, dessert Lvda Gun, fried sausage, etc., and a variety of Han Chinese food such as fried dumplings, Baodu (burst stomach), Chatang (sweet soup), Wandou Huang, etc.

Here are some must-try recommendations: first, deep-fried scorpion, grasshopper, and pupae - for the tourists coming to Wangfujing Snack Street, these look daunting but taste really well, snacks usually deserve a try. Second, a variety of sugar-coated haws, being the most colorful snacks, have various types ranging from the most traditional hawthorn, oranges, and yams to fresh kiwi, strawberries, grapes, etc. For Chinese people, holding coasted haws could always find them the feeling of childhood.

Routes: Bus No. 210, 103, 104, 211 or other public transport to Wangfujin Station; Subway Line 1 to Wangfujing Station.

New Qianmen Avenue

Lying in the southern part of the central axis of Beijing, Qianmen Avenue, once referred to as “a street in heaven”, has already had a history of over 570 years. The new Qianmen Street has been reopened since 2008 after a big renovation, to highlight the characteristics of a combination of modern business functions and the ancient styles and features of the capital. At present, 13 old and famous shops originally based in this street have moved back, such as Yueshengzhai, Yitiaolong, Qinglin Spring (Tea Shop), and Quanjude (Roast Duck Shop). In addition, more than 20 internationally renowned brands have also showntheir presence here, including Apple, Starbucks, Rolex, H&M and so on.

Strolling in the new Qianmen Street, you will find drums, sugar-coated haws standing in an array by the sides – these are street lights in various shapes of old Beijing features style. After the transformation, the road surface is replaced by bluish white stones, which recovers the royal road in the history. Retained in the memories of old Beijingers, the tram (clang clang of cars), five archway and other Ming and Qing landscape have been also re-created in people's eyes.

Routes: Bus No. 20, 203, 59, 5, 66 to Qianmen Station; Subway Line 2 to Qianmen Station.

Video Game & Instrument Street – Gulou (Drum Tower) East Street

Gulou (Drum Tower) East Street in recent years has gradually formed a street featuring video games and animation shops. This arcade street has a total of 36 video game shops, including specifically the sale of video games for PSP, PS2 and the game software and cartoon model, the visitors are most of the young people at their 20s.

The “Video Game Street” not only fames itself in the capital, even some foreign businesses are attracted to Beijing for procurement. In addition to video game stores, Drum Tower East Street also has scattered distribution of 16 musical instruments - such a high density, also gains its name of a musical instrument street.

Routes: Bus No. 204(inner circle), 107, 635, 124 to Baochao Hutong Station.

Panjiayuan Flea Market

Panjiayuan Flea Market is located in the southwest of Panjiayuan Bridge in the East Third Ring, covering an area of ​​48,500 square meters. The market is divided into six business areas, i.e., the stall District, ancient room, antique furniture, modern collection area, stone carving, and food service areas. The major business contents are antique items, crafts, collectibles, as well as decorations. The market was formed in 1992, developing gradually accompanied by the rise and active of civil antique art trade, and now it is a large antique art market which plays an important role of spreading folk culture.

Panjiayuan Flea Market is the most popular antique goods market. Weekend opens can attract big traffic flows up to sixty or seventy thousand people, including tens of thousands of foreign guests. People with different colors, languages, social strata, different beliefs, nationalities all aggregate here. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Greek Prime Minister Brahimi Atlantis, Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and a dozens of other foreign dignitaries had come here to visit the shopping.

This was still the country's largest folk art distribution center. Snuff bottles from Hengshui, Year Paintings of Yangliuqing, the embroidery of Jiangsu, porcelain of Jiangxi, Teapot of Yixing, bronze of Shaanxi and so on, these arts and crafts with different folk uniqueness converged from all over the country to Panjiayuan, and then sold from here to all over the world.

Routes: Bus No. 800(outside circle), 36, 34, 434, T-3 to Jingsong South Station.

Sanlitun Bar Street

Sanlitun was originally known for its auto parts and clothing market. Later, it gradually became a bar street. The bar street locates in the east side of Sanlitun North Road, Chaoyang District, with a total length of 260 meters, covering an area of ​​1648 square meters.

Sanlitun is Beijing's earliest bar community. The first bar was opened in 1989. Although the bars appeared primarily in South Sanlitun area, the reputation was earned by some of the famous bars located in the Sanlitun North Street, and finally prevailed the bar culture in this road.

Small Bars, Boys and Girls, Lan Kwai Fong, A Rest Day, and the Palm Beach... any bar you can find is a prosperous business. As Sanlitun North Street being adjacent to the embassy district, where 79 embassies are located including Canada, Australia, France, Belgium, Germany. Foreigners became the most regular guests of the North Street Bars. In recent years, the local white-collar workers, performers, and even tourists from other provinces have become a frequent visitor of the Bar Street.

Routes: Bus No. 133 to North Gate of Beijing Worker Stadium; Subway Line 2 to Dongsishitiao Station.