Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
houses—low, single-story buildings. When you find yourself among these, life seems less
intense and more neighborly.
Dongcheng basically covers the eastern half of Beijing's inner core, confined within the
city's central axis and the East Second Ring Road. In the north it extends up to peek over
the Third Ring Road, and in the south it hugs the South Second Ring Road but then spills
out of this boundary below Tiantan Park.
Bisected by Line 5, the east and west partitions of Dongcheng have quite different
feels. On the east, Dongzhimen, Chaoyangmen, and Jianguomen are businesslike. Two of
Beijing's three embassy areas lie to the north and south of these areas, attracting a colorful
array of expats and office workers to the surrounding apartments. In the northwest, from
Lama Temple over to Gulou, ancient
hútòng
have been revitalized and are filled with an
ever-increasing number of small Western-style boutiques, restaurants, bars, and Westerners
seeking a taste of the
hútòng
life. South of here, from Dongsi down to Wangfujing, there are
fewer foreign faces, but the diverse mix of Chinese here can be astounding. In some smaller,
older apartments, young locals flatshare with two or three friends to a room, while down the
road on Jinbao Jie, China's obscenely wealthy doll out their spare change on Lamborghinis,
Bentleys, and Ferraris. Finally, crossing Chang'an Jie into the south, the character changes
again. These days it's filled with Beijing's working class. Most of the old
hútòng
structures
have been torn down and replaced by less-interesting high-density housing. There are fewer
obvious expat enclaves, but the shopping is surprisingly good and there are two large parks
to exercise and relax in.
