Located directly east of Tian'anmen Square, Wangfujing Street may be the first stop on your shopping tour after arriving in Beijing. Stretching more than 1.8 km, Wangfujing is often crowded with window shoppers, checking out the famous brand stores, most of which are located in the grand Oriental Plaza mall. Sun Dong An Plaza, another popular mall, is a magnet for the young: bright and full of life. People look for traditional Chinese art and craft works as well as quality jewellery in the Wangfujing Arts and Crafts Building. There are also time-honored Chinese brands, such as Shengxifu hats and Tongbihe shoes.

Although foreigners living and working in Beijing like to go to the Yaxiu (Yashow) market in Sanlitun for reasonable prices and wide variety of clothing, Sanlitun is more famous for bars in the street. With the neighboring embassies of 79 nations on its border, there are about 200 bars in Sanlitun Bar Street. Despite the emergence of a number of new bar zones in Beijing in the past years, Sanlitun has remained fashionable with the expat community, foreign travelers, and young locals.