Beijing apm

Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central


Dominated at street level by its Apple store, this six-floor shopping mecca has the expected glut of fast fashion (Zara, H&M etc), cosmetics and electronics and a cinema complex. The choice of restaurants and cafes here is enormous, from posh Peking duck at Taste of Dadong to Dunkin' Donuts.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central attractions

1. Wangfujing Street

0.17 MILES

Monolithic shopping malls face each other across this prestigious avenue thronged with mostly out-of-town tourists. The late-20th-century Chinese…

2. St Joseph’s Church

0.18 MILES

Squeezed between shopping malls on Wangfujing Dajie is the delightfully incongruous St Joseph's, dating, in its current incarnation, from 1901. In fact,…

3. Dong'an Gate Remains

0.26 MILES

In two roadside excavations north and south of the crossroads here are the remains of the once magnificent Dong'an Men – the east gate of the Imperial…

4. Lao She Museum

0.32 MILES

This renovated courtyard was the home of Lao She (1899–1966), one of Beijing’s best-loved 20th-century writers. Author of Rickshaw Boy and Tea House, and…

5. Pudu Temple

0.38 MILES

This inactive Tibetan Buddhist temple can't be entered, but the elevated square in front, which forms part of a small park, is a peaceful little escape…

6. East Prosperity Gate

0.55 MILES

The east gate of the Forbidden City, through which you can exit but not enter. Inside are exhibitions belonging to the Gallery of Historic Architecture.

7. Shijia Hutong Museum

0.62 MILES

Shijia Hutong has seen plenty of action over the decades, as this spiffy museum in a rebuilt sìhéyuàn (courtyard residence) explains. English is ample…

8. Nine Dragon Screen

0.65 MILES

The Nine Dragon Screen, a 5m-tall, 27m-wide spirit wall, is one of three such screens in China. It's a spectacular composition of coiling dragons picked…