Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you're interested in clothing yourself, there are also many places to find a bargain.
One of the favorite spots for students is the Wudaokou Clothing Market. The market is
geared toward the fashion-hungry student crowd, and these days it stocks a trendier, more
upmarket range of clothing than many other markets. There are lots of Western and Korean
brands, mostly fake, so be sure to bargain. It's located in Jinma Plaza at the corner of
Xueqing Lu and Qinghua Donglu. If that's not enough, there is also Jinyuan New Yansha
Shopping Mall (or Golden Resources Shopping Mall,
金源时代购物中心
), on Yuanda Lu
off the West Fourth Ring Road and beside Changchunqiao subway station (Line 10, exit
A). The mall covers more than 550,000 square meters and was, for a fleeting time between
2004 and 2005, the world's largest mall. It's a collection of various mall brands and retail-
ers, high-end and low, all located in the once gargantuan complex. Have a look at their pro-
motional video on Youku (
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTA3ODk3NzI0.html
)
to get a
real feel for it. It's all in Chinese, but you'll get the gist.
Finally, on to books. Though the online book market in Beijing is big, cheap, and in-
credibly convenient, bookstores in Haidian are still going strong, for books in Chinese or
foreign languages and textbooks. Plus, books in university libraries notoriously go missing
or are just not put on the shelf so that they don't go missing—so it can be handy to know
a good bookshop or two. Just a few of the stores you may find yourself in include Haidian
Book City and the Zhongguancun Book Building, almost side by side at the intersection
of the North Fourth Ring West Road and Suzhou Jie. There is also the Beijing Language
and Culture University Press Store, located just inside the university's south gate on the left
side. This is the supplier of almost half the Chinese-language textbooks on the market (Pek-
ing University Press monopolizes the other half), so it's one of the best places you could go
to for Chinese textbooks.
Dining
Haidian isn't particularly known for its food, but it is the kind of place in which you'll dis-
cover a hidden gem or a tiny authentic place that only locals know about. Over the last dec-
ade, restaurants have catered largely to the student population, so you'll find endless cheap
and cheerful eateries wherever you go. Korean and Japanese restaurants are both in plenti-
ful supply, thanks to the number of these students coming to Beijing to study, and Western
diner-style establishments are also popular. The food is hearty and portion sizes generous,
though they may never quite match the standard of what you get at home.
The nature of dining in general in Haidian is on the verge of changing. Beijing's restaur-
ateurs have cottoned on to the fact that not only are there many more adventurous, interna-
tionally minded businesspeople out here, but the student population is also wealthier than it
