Among the clothing markets in Beijing, a special notice has to be done regarding the clothing market which located just at the south of the Beijing Zoo. To get there, the simplest way is to take the Beijing Zoo subway station or you can ask your taxi driver to go to the Zoo wholesale clothing market, that is 动物园服装批发市场 or Dongwuyuan Fuzhuang Pifa Shichang. The market is at the south, just besides the large bus station.
What is the interest of this market ? It is simply the largest one in Beijing for clothese and you can find almost anything here. It is supposed to be a wholesale market and indeed the dynamic of the place is that most of the little shops here are the frontdesk of Taobao stores (Taobao is the top Chinese website for online shopping). You can buy individual clothes there in one of the many stalls. This market has been developing a lot within the past few years and it is actually quite huge now.
Everything here is about bargaining and since the market is 100% oriented for Chinese customers, it is easier to have good prices there than in the most famous Yashow market in Chaoyang. Regarding the quality, everything is possible, you have to try, investgate and compare while you get yourself lost in the maze of little covered alleys.
It is not really one market but rather a group of large building, everyone of them with a clothing market, in theory with specialities but it is not that easy to understand, it is quite messy. You find really anything aywhere, just be patient if you don’t find what you are looking for at once, it is there, somewhere, you just have to find it. Some stalls are more exensive, some don’t want you to try the clothes, you have to negociate and bargain. Most of the time, you’ll get really cheap prices and some are really good quality (but as usual, you have what you pay for, it is better if you have a notion of quality when you get there).
The main buildings are called Jin Kailide, Shiji Tianle and Julong. Not really sure since the limites of the place are uncertain, it seems there is actually seven buildings. The three markets have approximatively the same size and sell all kinds of clothes.
On weekends, the place is crowded, it would be better to be there in the morning, definitively less exhausting, this is one of the actual places where Beijing people buy clothes, be warned that there is the Beijing crowd that goes with it, agoraphobic people do not try it !
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