Wangfujing Street Beijing

Beijing Wangfujing Street is the famous commercial area with hundreds of long history and is called “Gold Street” in Beijing.

Location
It lies to the south to Beijing East Chang’an Street and the east to the forbidden City. For recent years hundreds of millions RMB Yuan has been invested for largely modernized rebuilding by the governments and enterprises of Beijing. The first food street and commercial street of Beijing have been built. Wang Fu Jing Street is the modernized commercial area with shopping, travel, food and amusement. Wang Fu Jing Street with historical and modern culture of Beijing is the commercial centre beyond controversy in whole country.

Along the 810-metre-long street and in an area of about 810 square metres are over 200 shops. A 60-member clean-up team for a single commercial area might have been remarkable in scale in Beijing. The new street can also provide convenience for pedestrians and motorists alike. Take the transportation as an example. Gone for good are the old days of narrow streets jam-packed with people. The area has no problems at its entry and exit even with a half million people and 1, 020 vehicles. Also, in spite of being modern and new, the renovated Wangfujing Street has retained its traditional cultural atmosphere. The street is a kind of beauty perfectly combining tradition, modernity, culture and commerce. With a group of sculptures depicting the lives of the people of Beijing in the old times was established in front of the modern New Dong An Plaza, a 70-square-metre relief sculpture recalling the operation of the 12 old famous shops in the area was set on the southern wall of the Women' s Department Store. Also the ancient well, from which the street got its name, was also symbolically restored.

History
The street came into being in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) more than 700 years ago. Wangfujing Street is said to have received its name in the Ming Dynasty more than 500 years ago. It was said that the emperor wanted all his 10 brothers to build their mansions in the place now known as Wangfujing so as to make it easy for him to keep a wary eye on them for fear that they might pose a direct threat to him. Therefore, the street was then named Shiwangfu, meaning mansions for 10 imperial brothers. Nowadays, the street is one of the busy shopping areas in Beijing. There are more than 200 shops on the 810-metre-long street from Nankou of Wangfujing to Jinyu (Goldfish) Hutong (Lane) . Tourists love to go shopping here. Within 8 years from 1992 to 1999, 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) was spent on renovating the whole Wangfujing Street, and :shops with more than 1. 8 million square metres of all kinds of buildings along the street. According to statistics, before 1992, the highest flow of visitors numbered 450, 000 every day in Wangfujing Street. Every day about 200, 000 shoppers came to Beijing Department Store, but later, about 50, 000 came to do shopping at Beijing Department Store. To change the situation, the Beijing municipal government decided to restore all the shops and the street so that they can attract more people to come to the street reputed as a "golden street" by the people of Beijing.

Wangfujing Street has presented a shining new face after the second phase of its extension project was completed on September 11, 2000. The traffic conditions in the Wangfujing area have been greatly improved thanks to the construction of new roads, such as the Department Store West Road, running parallel to Wangfujing, and the expansion of old ones like Dengshikou Xijie Street, which runs perpendicular to Wangfujing. More than 330 public and private buildings have been removed to make way for roads, trees and lawns. Donghuamen night fair, the centre of the street, has received a face-lift and serves as a food court for visitors. The 340-million-yuan (US$41 million) project aims to make Wangfujing Street the capital's biggest shopping centre. The street has been extended from 810 metres to 1, 150 metres (Wangfujing Nankou to Dengshi Xikou), and expanded to include shopping, entertainment, tourism and business. According to the practices of developed countries, places for entertainment and tourism should occupy half of the commercial centre as a whole; Wangfujing was brought up to this standard after renovation. The Jinyu (Goldfish) Hutong on the east side of the street has been turned into an avenue of hotels and restaurants, while a back street on the west side has been built into a street of snack bars and was reopened to the public on September 11, 2000.

Shopping
Wangfujing Street and its surroundings have quite a selection of shopping options. There are two western styles, modern malls. One has an English name written on it saying "Sun Dong An", which is confusing because its Chinese name is "Xin Dong An". This one is the older of the two, situated on the center crossroads of Wangfujing Street, 12 minutes walk north of the subway station. It has 6 floors of shops and some pretty glass elevators. Here you can find fashion stores, souvenirs, cafes and restaurants, a cinema and a built-in large department store with some reasonably priced high-quality electronics

The second of the two malls is near the subway and is called Oriental Plaza. This is a huge complex and one of the biggest malls in Asia. It has only 2 floors, but it stretches for a few city blocks. It is so big there are subway stations more or less at each end. It takes about 15 minutes to walk the length, if you are a quick walker. Oriental Plaza has many fashion stores, a lot of cafes and restaurants, a cinema, an Apple Computer center, VW Audi car showr

Apart from the malls there are many large, tradional department stores, souvenir stores, and a side street with tradional Chinese food stalls. Wangfujing is not merely a shopping street but a whole experience. There are often large exhibitions and festivals held on the street.

Apart from the malls there are many large, tradional department stores, souvenir stores, and a side street with tradional Chinese food stalls. Wangfujing is not merely a shopping street but a whole experience. There are often large exhibitions and festivals held on the street.

Near Oriental Plaza there is one of the largest book stores in Beijing, the Wangfujing Book Store. This is 6 floors of books, mainly Chinese but has a large selection of Chinese literature translated into English. You can also find books for studying the Chinese language and some maps and guide books in English. Credit cards are accepted in the book store and many of the larger stores in both malls.