Wangfujing

Wangfujing has served as Beijing's main commercial thoroughfare since the Republican era, when the street was lined with department stores and specialty shops catering to the city's middle class. The current pedestrian zone, rebuilt in the 1990s and again in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, replaced much of that historic fabric with a sequence of multi-storey malls and chain stores that closely resembles commercial streets in other Chinese cities.

The street runs about 800 metres from Chang'an Avenue in the south to the Beijing Hotel junction at the north. Wangfujing Department Store, one of the original anchors, still operates as a large mid-range retail space. Sun Dong An Plaza is the main enclosed mall; its basement food hall is more useful for a meal than the tourist-oriented stalls of the adjacent Snack Street.

St Joseph's Church (the East Church, or Dongtang) sits on a small square set back from the main pedestrian zone. The current building dates from 1905, though a church has stood on the site since 1655. It remains an active Catholic parish and is open to visitors outside service times.

The real interest of the immediate area for non-shoppers lies at its southern edge: the eastern section of Chang'an Avenue connects Wangfujing to Tian'anmen Square on foot in fifteen minutes. The approach from this direction, with the Beijing Hotel on the left and the old Ministry of Public Security building on the right, is a useful way of seeing the historic ceremonial axis from an angle that tourist itineraries often skip.