Beijing: Dongcheng’s Glamous Wangfujing Street

By Patricia Mohr@

The Dongcheng District in Beijing is where brand names come to shine—literally shine in big, bright lights that marvel the eye and illuminate the street.

The primary road, Wangfujing Street, is off limits to cars. It attracts loads of tourists, foreign businessmen and women and trendy locals. They come to shop, see what is fashionable, dine out and wander in awe of the commercial allure.

Wangfujing Street is where companies place their signature stores. The shops work harder at upholding the brand name than they do at selling goods. The big names include Nike, Cartier, Olympic, Tudor Rolex as well as Chinese brands, Wuyutai Tea Shop, Ruifuxiang silk, Tongshenghe shoes and ICBC bank.

Branding is important in China, as it is everywhere, and Dongcheng is where China brands itself as a great commercial center of the world.

For ease of recognition, we Americans refer to Dongcheng’s Wangfujing Street as the “Times Square” of Beijing. But that minimizes its significance. The district itself is both old and new. It has a long 800-year history as a chic and prosperous place.