Beijing Wangfujing Street, as one of the symbols of Beijing's commerce, is the most well-known and prosperous shopping street with modern and fashion trends. Located near the city center in Dongcheng District, the street is one of four most prosperous business zones in Beijing.
It is 1,600 meters (1 mile) long ranging from Changan Avenue in the south to National Art Museum of China in the north. With a history of 700 years around, it got the name Wangfu (royal mansion) Jing (well) because there used to be eight royal mansions and a well with sweet water on the street. Currently, it is the busiest street in this city and there are 600,000 people every day come and go and on holidays, the number can rise to 1,200,000.
As the first famous business zone in this city, Wangfujing Shopping Street houses a wide variety of shops and boutiques, some of which are of world-famous brands. Apart from that, there are also many time honored stores with traditional commodities standing in the street for hundreds of years. Nowadays Beijing Wangfujing Street is a modern commercial street which can be paralleled with Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Tips
1. There are davenports every several yards prepared for visitors to have a rest. And one can use the shopping barrows along the street for free.
2. Visitors can take a sightseeing bus at south end of the street which runs through this street and Nanheyan Street. Tourist guide on the bus can introduce the history and main scenic spots along the street in detail. The bus runs 50 minutes altogether with 8 stops. The bus fare is CNY20 per person.
3. Currently, Beijing has adopted tax refund policy (Value Added Tax or VAT) among overseas tourists, and there are several designated tax free stores in the commercial street, including Gongmei Mansion, Wangfujing Department Store, Dong'an Department Store, and Wuyutai Tea Shop.