The Wángfǔjǐng street located in Dongcheng District is one of the most popular and modern streets in the city of Beijing. Most of the street is just for pedestrians and offers from Chinese food to shops and a spoilt for choice in souvenirs. The name means exactly “Prince’s Mansion” because during the Qing Dynasty a few royal residence were established but it started to be commercial during the middle period of the Ming Dynasty. The popular Dong’an market was formed in 1903.
St Joseph’s Cathedral
Almost all the area offers International brands and around 280 Chinese stores mixed up with modern architecture similar to western cities. Important things to see are the bronze sculpture around the street and the St Joseph’s Cathedral, located in a square at the right side of the main street. Established in 1653 by Lodovico Buglio, St Joseph is a roman catholic church also called the Wangfujing Cathedral or colloquially Dongtang. It is common to see young people doing skateboard and couples taking wedding pictures in front of the church.
The Snack Street
The most visited street is the “Wangfujing Snack Street”, located in old courtyards in the west side of this area. This hutongs street offers a lot of stalls full of exotic animal snacks, pork kebab, fruits, dumplings and more.
This snack street is a must-see in Beijing and a must-live too. It is amazing to enjoy one Chinese snack or buy a few souvenirs to take back home. You can buy key rings, stickers, toys, caps, chopsticks and other Chinese decoration objects. You always have to try to get the best possible price for your items.
It is important to mention that the quality of the food is not very good in this street because it may be too commercial but you cannot leave Beijing without having taste one exotic snack. You can choose some chicken, pork and beef meat snacks but also snake meat, sea star and a high variety of fried insects.
“If you always wanted to try tinny or big, black scorpions, worms, maggots, seahorses and grasshoppers, this is your opportunity in China”.
To visit Wangfujing: Take Beijing Subway line 1 and stop at “Wangfujing” (southern end of the street)
Wangfujing insect snacks
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