Beijing Curio City is a four-story complex hosting dozens of stores where you can buy souvenirs. The market specializes in antique wooden furniture, antique pottery, Chinese art, bone carvings, intricate carpets, antique timepieces, pearls and jade. If you have the eye for what's precious and what's not, then this is your place. You should certainly bargain, but do it with a smile. (Payment options vary by vendor.)

For over 600 years, citizens of Beijing have thronged to Dashalar Street to bargain for their daily needs. The entrance to the street is on the west side of Qianmen Street, just a couple of hundred yards south of Tiananmen Square. Apart from silks, fabrics and clothes, this is a place where you can encounter practitioners of Chinese medicine, who might be able to prescribe a mystical remedy or special health tonic for you.

Southwest of Tiananmen Square, Liulichang Street was once a flourishing cultural center during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) where scholars, painters and calligraphers gathered to exchange ideas, compose poetry, write books and paint pictures. Nowadays you can enjoy a nice walk along this charming part of the city center and browse the (mostly fake) antique stores, artists' shops and curios, perhaps even purchase an old scroll of Chinese calligraphy.

Situated just east of the Forbidden City at the corner of Wangfujing Street is Asia's second largest shopping mall. Oriental Plaza is bright and spacious and offers fashion stores, jewelers, health and beauty outlets, a launderette, supermarket, coffee shops, restaurants, a huge McDonalds, a Palaeolithic museum, banks with exchange facilities and a 24-hour ATM. There's usually some kind of fashion show and IT/ electronics promotion going on, too.

Ladies, go wild! This is the Chinese capital's most decadent, most ultra-chic shopping pavilion. Nearly 100 trendy stores stock the finest in womens' clothing, designer names included. Footwear, lingerie and jewelry stores are also at your beck and call.