Beijing shopping runs from dawn haggling over Qing porcelain at Panjiayuan to cashmere flagships in Sanlitun. This route links the old-street guilds of Dashilan, the gallery shops of 798 and the tea traders of Maliandao — with the bargaining rules for each.
Beijing's largest flea and antiques market: some 3,000 stalls of Cultural Revolution posters, Qing porcelain, Tibetan turquoise, jade seals and wolf-hair calligraphy brushes. Open 08:30–18:00 daily; the weekend dawn hours draw the serious dealers.
Four enclosed floors of antique dealers a short walk from Panjiayuan, with steadier prices and vetted stock: Ming-style hardwood furniture, snuff bottles, celadon ware and Republic-era clocks. Open 09:30–18:30, quieter on weekday afternoons.
A 750-metre street of grey-brick Qing shopfronts trading in ink stones, xuan paper, chops and hanging scrolls. Rongbaozhai has sold artists' supplies here since 1672 and will carve a stone name seal while you wait. Most shops 09:00–18:00.
A 600-year-old commercial lane west of Qianmen: Neiliansheng has hand-sewn cloth shoes since 1853, Ruifuxiang sells silk and brocade by the metre, and Tongrentang has dispensed herbal medicine since 1669. Shops run 09:00–20:00.
A Bauhaus-planned 1950s electronics plant turned gallery quarter in Dashanzi, with a hundred-plus studios, print rooms and design shops selling ceramics, screen prints and contemporary jewellery. Galleries 10:00–18:00, most closed Mondays.
An open-air grid of low glass-and-steel cubes where Chinese labels sit beside global flagships: Icicle's natural-dye cashmere, Bosie's genderless knitwear, and one of the country's largest Adidas Originals stores. Shops 10:00–22:00.
China's highest-grossing department store, paired with SKP-S across Jianguo Road — a surreal concept space of animatronic sheep and a Mars-colony theme that stocks homegrown designers such as Uma Wang and Ms Min. Open 10:00–22:00.
A 632-metre grey-brick lane just south of the Lama Temple, lined with independent boutiques: hand-thrown stoneware, linen clothing, vinyl, and vintage. Shops tend to open around 11:00 and trade until 21:00, with far fewer crowds than Nanluoguxiang.
A kilometre of tea trading in Xicheng, with over 3,000 vendors and the multi-floor Beijing Tea City at its centre selling pu'er cakes, Tieguanyin oolong and Longjing green by weight. Open roughly 09:00–18:30, sellers brewing samples all day.
Beijing's oldest 'skewed' alley, a 232-metre run from Di'anmen to the Silver Ingot Bridge, packed with pipe sellers, seal carvers, kite makers and paper-cut stalls. Shops trade 10:00–22:00; the lakeside end fills up after sunset.
An 800-metre Yuan-dynasty lane whose eight side hutongs hide the real craft studios: Pottery Workshop ceramics, hand-stitched cloth tigers, and full Beijing opera mask sets. Main street 10:00–22:00; turn off it within the first hundred metres.
A glass-walled bookshop in the Beijing Fun complex whose upper-floor window frames the Zhengyangmen gate tower. Stock runs to Chinese design monographs, bilingual art titles and an own-brand stationery line; it opens at 10:00 and trades very late.