Shopping at outdoor markets remains a not-to-be-missed experience for foreign travelers. The Xiushui and Yabao open air markets, which enjoy great favor among foreigners, are also situated in the district. Xiushui Street has a silk market replete with some of the finest silk products, as well as an amazing array of name-brand clothes, bags such as Reebok, Adidas and Gucci. However, very few of these top labels are the real thing despite their uncanny resemblance. Xiushui Street is one of the few places in Beijing where foreigners can purchase clothes and shoes in large sizes.

Location: Chaoyang District
What to buy: silk, clothes and shoes in large size

The metropolis of Beijing has several shopping districts offering a mind-boggling variety of goods. The traditional shopping districts have been always Wangfujing Street, Qianmen Street, Dongdan and Xidan Commercial Street, but now it seems that Jianguomen Outer Street has surpassed them as the venue for the latest and most luxurious items.

Jianguomen Outer Street is a major street in urban Beijing. It forms part of the extended Chang'an Avenue. It runs from Jianguomen Bridge in the west through to Guomao in the east, through some remarkably commercialized areas. The Beijing Friendship Store is on Jianguomen Outer Street, as is Guiyou Market.

It consists mainly of food markets, clothes stores and commodities. The street is a modern, international, commercial combination of shopping, dining, recreation and culture. The central area is Xidan Cultural Square, the largest venue for cultural entertainment along Chang'an Street, composed of underground restaurants, markets, cinema, bowling alley, swimming pool, rock-climbing club and the largest mirror palace in the country.

In Xidan Commercial Area, there are many shopping malls, such as Xidan Market, Xidan Shopping Center, Xidan Scitech Shopping City and Zhongyou Department Store, and some long-established shops such as Guixiangcun food shop, Wanli shoe shop, Yuanchanghou tea house and Beijing Book Building.

Location: the geometric center of Beijing
What to buy: food bazaar, fashion shoes, garments and hats

Lying 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) west of Tiananmen Square, Xidan Commercial Street is called 'the second Wangfujing' in Beijing. Starting from Xuanwu Gate in the south; the commercial street is 5.4 kilometers long. Xidan Commercial Street is known as one of the three most famous commercial centers in Beijing, together with Wangfujing Dajie and Qianmen Da Zha Lan.

It is located at the geometric center of Beijing, runs through Xidan city-level commercial center and two district-level commercial centers of Xisi and Xinjiekou.

Location: Northwest of Qianmen Dajie, Xuanwu District.
What to buy: Quanjude Peking Roast Duck, Chinese Herbal Medicine Pharmacy, Silk and Leather, tea.

Qianmen Commercial Street is a busy street in Xuanwu District in Beijing. It is a narrow street, only 300 meters long. Both sides of the street are crowded with stores which are busy with visitors coming and going everyday. It is a flourishing old street with many special time-honored shops passed down from older generations.

As the birthplace of many time-honored domestic brands such as Quanjude Peking Roast Duck and the China Bookstore, Qianmen Street has long been the commercial hub of the capital. And there are so many time-honored domestic brands in the street, such as Tongrentang (tóng rén táng), Chinese Herbal Medicine Pharmacy; Ruifuxiang Silk and Leather Store (ruì fú xiáng), Zhang Yi Yuan (zhāng yī yuán), a tea shop; Go Believe (gǒu bù lǐ) baozi, etc. And now that many foreign brands, including Swedish fashion chain H&M and Zara from Spain have established a presence there, the street is becoming more international.

About 60 shops have been operating along the pedestrian street since it reopened to tourists in August, 2008. More than 20 of the street's current 103 stores are international ones, adding a modern flavor to the historical area. Qianmen Street is considered one of the most popular places for visitors to Beijing.

Wanfujing Street boasts a shoppers paradise of merchants catering to every desire; Oriental Plaza, Wangfujing Department Store, Foreign Language Bookstore, Danyao Building, Gongmei Building, Wangfu Women Department Store, Moslem Building, Sun Dong An Plaza, Shengxifu, Tongshenghe, Donglaishun, Silian Hairdressing, Baicao Drugstore, and it is famous for its celebrated long-established shops selling the shoes of Neiliansheng and Buyingzhai, the hats of Shengxifu and Majuyuan, the silks of Ruifuxiang, the scissors of Wangmazi, the writing brushes produced in Huzhou and ink sticks produced in Huizhou of Daiyuexuan, the antiques and jade wares of Jiguge, the tea leaves of Yuanchanghou, the cakes of Daoxiangchun, Guixiangcun and Xiangjugong, the roast ducks of Quanjude, the pickles of Liubiju, the pork cooked in soy sauce of Tianfuhao, the traditional snacks and Hongluo preserved fruits are sold in the shops along this street of old Beijing.

At night, when Wangfujing Street turns on its ever increasing number of neon advertising signs, even more crowds flock to soak up the atmosphere. The neon can now be compared to those of any major city in the world and are very popular with the tourists, especially those coming from less developed parts of China. Most shops stay open till around 9pm and sometimes there will be an impromptu night market.

Address: north of Esat Chang'an Street
What to buy: souvenirs, clothing

Wangfujing is a 700-year-old commercial street in Beijing. It has maintained its position as the number one choice for shoppers since the mid-1980s. The Wangfujing Department Store has long been acknowledged as the largest, most fashionable one-stop shopping center in Beijing. It has a total length of about 1.5 kilometers, running North/South between Wangfujing Nankou and the Sun Dong An Plaza.

What do you want to buy? Wangfujing Commercial Street is filled with large shops, hotels, specialty shops and its illustrious old-time Beijing shops. It is the sister street of Champs Elysees in France. In addition to the modern shopping atmosphere, this street has preserved its traditional style.

Experienced the torn down of the old one for its illegal trade in the pirate commodities, new Xiushui Street is built next to the original market. It has five floors on the ground and three on the underground, with a building area of altogether 28,000 sq. m, and a capacity of thousands of stalls.

This new market injects a fresh blood into the Beijing trade. When you shopping in this market, you can heat that the assistants promote their goods in various languages. No matter you want to buy the good only belongs to China or popularizes in the world, this market can meet you need with variety commodities, including curtains, tablecloths, bedding, earrings, and watches as well as clothes, inexpensive caps, and shoes of excellent workmanship. If you want to buy something, you should check with more than one store and haggle over the price. Xiushui Street used to be a wholesale market where businessmen from Eastern European countries purchased clothes, and all business was conducted in English and Russian. Today, the street is a tourist spot where people speaking many languages go shopping, both wholesale and retail.

The Silk Eastern Road played a very important role in the history of Xiushui Street. Originated in 1982 when a group of ambitious youth started their business at Silk Eastern Road, Beijing, with very simple stalls at that time. Gradually, this place became a trade market for many vendors. And in 1987, when more and more vendors began to sell traditional Chinese silk products and crafts at here, the silk street got its name.  Its repute spread fast, and more and more customers and travelers are attracted by the reasonable price of its products. The former Xiushui Silk Street is an outdoor market. Since 1985, Xiushui Silk Street has been popular with overseas tourists who have flocked to buy counterfeit and knock-off luxury clothes and accessories.

Location: Located along Chang An avenue near the Yong An Li (120) line 1 subway station.
What to buy: Chinese Souvenirs, Chinese Rugs / Carpets, Golf Equipment, Pearls, Silk by the roll, Chinese Paintings

As one of the most popular destinations to overseas tourists in Beijing, Xiushui Street attracts domestic as well as foreign tourists with commodities at a cheap price. It is several hundred meters long and is also known as the Leading Foreign Trade Market. The street lies at the southeastern corner of the diplomatic quarter in Beijing's Chaoyang District and has many hotels and offices of foreign-funded enterprises.