Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ments in the area; however, the Tower Apartments at Oriental Plaza are a good option.
They're smack-dab in the heart of the area and are serviced by English-speaking staff. They
do have facilities for kids, but as most guests staying here are businesspeople, your little
ones might find themselves playing alone. For long-term accommodations, rates are ap-
proximately RMB18,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and RMB26,000 for a two-bedroom
apartment.
Not the cheapest place to buy property, this area's housing requires an outlay of almost
no less than RMB40,000 and beyond RMB70,000 per square meter. If you have dreams of
owning a beautiful
sìhéyuàn,
get ready to spend the equivalent of US$4 million or more.
Education
There's not much here for young English speakers, but adults will be able to access a few in-
stitutions. Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), China's first private busi-
ness school, is located at Wangfujing, and offers various MBA programs tailored to helping
you understand the Chinese market. For more relaxed mind expansion, the Hutong Cuisine
Cooking School, just off Dongsi Nandajie, will get you cooking dumplings and other tradi-
tional Chinese dishes. If you can speak Mandarin, then the Central Academy of Drama on
Nanluogu Xiang is the place to ply your acting abilities.
Shopping and Dining
There are few places in the city with such a high concentration of major shopping venues,
particularly down around Dongdan and Wangfujing. The star shopping spot right here is
Oriental Plaza. It has a huge variety of international brands, both everyday and luxury. If
that's not enough, just meters away you can try Beijing APM, home to Beijing's flagship
Gap store, and Intime Lotte. Two of Beijing's largest bookshops are also on this strip, the
Foreign Languages Bookshop and the gargantuan Wangfujing Bookstore. Though the lat-
ter may seem a little intimidating and anti-foreigner, upstairs it has a generous selection
of English-language novels and one of the most extensive ranges of textbooks for learning
Mandarin. If this is their hood, expect your kids to nag you for regular trips to the New Ch-
ina Children's Store. It not only has strollers, cribs, bikes, and dolls galore, it also has a play
area the kids will love.
On the east side of Wangfujing, Jinbao Jie is the place to spend big. “Elite” is the typical
description of the clientele that haunt this manufactured street of wealth. Shopping mall Jin-
bao Place is filled with such names as Bottega Veneta and Gucci. Down the street, Aston
Martin, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, and Rolls Royce have all set up lucrative
shops. It is a good street for Chinese fine dining, however. The Jinbao Place branch of Da
