The first time I traveled to China, I didn't put a lot of stuff in my suitcase because I thought I would buy a lot of cheap things to bring back home, especially clothes. I thought that in during my Beijing Tour I could easily find good looking clothes at a cheap price. It was a long way to go before I actually found my match. I first went to big shopping malls with all western shops and brands, the prices were the same than in Europe, except it was in RMB (20€ = 200¥). Therefore, it means that it was even more expensive since Euro currency's rate is lower than Chinese Yuan's. That wasn't what I was looking for, so I went to some fake markets. There are 2 big fake markets in Beijing : the Silk market at Yonganli station and the Yashow market in Sanlitun. I've never seen such markets : five-floor buildings only dedicated to counterfeit goods and one of the rare places where salesmen speaks English and a bit of many other languages. You have to bargain for each article in order to not to be fooled, and get very low prices. But the good thing is that except buying clothes, you can also find bags, accessories, jewelry, watches, sun glasses and some electronic devices (especially epilation machines which are the hardest thing to find at a good price in China).
Fortunately, thanks to a Chinese friend of mine I finally found a place that met my shopping expectations, the wholesale market. This market is actually divided into 7 markets, all located near the Beijing Zoo. The most popular ones are Julong, Tuanlegong and Shiji Tianle. I usually go to the Julong market which is an underground shopping center, the entrance is besides McDonals and Ito Yokado supermarket. At wholesale stores, they don't sell branded goods, but all the things they sell is bound for exportation, so the clothes are quite fashionable. I can spend hours and hours looking for the perfect gem, actually sometimes I just don't know what to choose since the choice seems unlimited among those mountains of clothes. If you are ready for this type of expedition, the better is to arrive around midday since the market closes his doors at 4:30pm. What I like there is that you don't need to bargain, prices are already quite low and most of them are written on signs. For example I bought a pair of ballerinas for only 29RMB and cool T-shirts for 10RMB. Other thing, you won't probably see a lot of foreigners there, only few salespersons can speak English, but they know basic sentences like "how much is it?". I only shop at the Zoo Market on weekdays, I feel much more comfortable since it isn't overcrowded, and you can slowly wander among the alleys.
I think that this is definetly the place to go if you are tired of bargaining during your travel to Beijing.
How to get there ?
Subway: Take the subway line 4 directly to Beijing Zoo (动物园).
Buses: No. 16, 105, 107, 111, 347, 808, 814
Express buses: No 104,105, 106, 205
Julong Foreign Trade Market 聚龙外贸市场)
Exhibition Square, 135 Xizhimen Waidajie, Xicheng District, Beijing
地址：北京市西城区西直门外大街135号展览馆广场
Shiji Tianle (世纪天乐)
28 Xizhimen Waidajie Nanlu, Xicheng District, Beijing
地址：北京市西城区西直门外大街南路28号
Jinkailide Building (金开利德大厦)
136 Jinkailide Building, Xizhimen Waidajie, Xicheng District, Beijing
地址：北京市西城区西直门外大街136号金开利德大厦
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