A very active economical area of Beijing, a large financial district and administration hub of China. The district is called Xicheng, it features large avenues with large office towers. Actually this is the institutional district in Beijing, important nationwide.

A little bit of history: these areas are located at the south west of the City and are built were was the former southwest access for merchants from China and the world. The travelers settled themselves there, developped their commerce and shops and this became one of Beijing's richest and more thriving districts. In the 1950s, this tradition has been carried on in a way: the China's main administrations and financial institutions have been placed there and following Beijing's urban development, it has become a major administrative landmark until today.

Large shopping malls, commercial centers have settled themselves around, aimed at Chinese young urban population. This has become one of the most prestigious commercial areas but it is essentially visited by Beijing people, the expatriates rather seldom go there.

The road access seems simple with the very large Chang'An avenue, leading to very famous TianAnMen square in Beijing and the Wangfujing commercial street but it is among Beijing's most jammed areas. Beijing subway line 1&2 enable access to this area.

The Beijing Financial street, Jinrong Jie, is located there, between Fuchengmen and Fuxingmen, inside Beijing second ring road. The main financial centers in continental China are in Shanghai & Shenzen, two cities that do feature stock markets and capital markets, in opposition with Beijing. Despite this, Beijing financial street is an important place because of its influence on financial regulation, headquarters of government agencies and above all China's central Bank.

These institutions have a large authority over financial matter in China. For example, Jirong Jie's agencies have decide the conditions of almost 100% of Chinese citizen's and companies loans, they handle half the insurance policies of the Chinese people.

Jinrong Jie's financial institutions are Chinese ones, but it has to be noted that Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS have opened offices there.

Since this area is seldom a choice for expatriate housing in Beijing, very few international schools settled themselves in the west of Beijing. The most current choices for international schools in Beijing are Beijing Shunyi and Beijing Lido.

No international schools in this neighborhood.

More information about Beijing International Schools on our blog.

The featured shopping malls are Seasons Place 购物中心, in Jinrong Jie, the Grand Pacific 君太百货 in Xidan Beidajie, the Zhongh You Department Store中友百货 , Joy City 大悦城, Xidan Shopping Center 西单购物中心 and Xidan Sci-tech 西单赛特商城.

Xidan is famous in China for its large bookshop, the Xidan Bookstore 北京图书大厦, a large building with a wide selection of Chinese books and a special area with books in English.

While this is a major place for venues, bars and restaurants, very few of those are designed in a way that most appeals to foreigner expats in Beijing. This is a top standard area in Beijing but expatriates will have trouble finding their mark in quite lifeless places, but there is many reasons this place can be a nice choice to rent a serviced apartment in Beijing.

Here is a list of large places for venues in Beijing, especially for classical music, Beijing and western opera, histing major performers: the National Center for the Performing Arts, designed by architect Paul Andreu, 国家大剧院 the Beijing Concert Hall 北京音乐厅 and the Forbidden City Concert Hall 中山公园音乐堂.

To go out, take note that many international hotels located there have beautiful bars and restaurants, among those note the Ritz-Carlton's, Jing Cheng Dong Fang Lu. For less prestige, commercial centers include a lot of restaurants with any cuisine styles you might be looking for. The area is especially renowned for its large Karaoke-KTV halls, among the most famous ones: the huge Jinku KTV 西单金库ktv.

The hospitals in this area welcome rather few foreigners, but still, some establishments meet high standards. In there is an emergency, an address you can go to is Fengtai Wound Emergency Medical Center, located Zaojia Jie, as well as the Beijing Emercency Medical Center 北京市急救中心 close to Qianmen, 103 Qianmen Xidajie.

Here is our little selection of compounds ins Xidan and Fuxingmen:

• The Westin Executive Residence 威斯汀服务式公寓,
• The apartment on Financial Street 金融街公寓.