Such lovingly curated shelves! If only Beijing had more alleyway boutiques like this. Slow Lane tempts with Tibetan yak-wool blankets, ceramic teaware from Jingdezhen (China's pottery heartland), and traditional handicrafts and jewellery, ethically sourced from all corners of the Middle Kingdom. Sip complimentary tea as you browse.
Slow Lane
Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.46 MILES
Enclosed by 3.5km of citadel walls at the very heart of Beijing, the Unesco-listed Forbidden City is China’s largest and best-preserved collection of…
2.69 MILES
An oasis of methodical Confucian design, the 267-hectare Temple of Heaven Park is unique. It originally served as a vast stage for solemn rites performed…
9.7 MILES
A marvel of Chinese garden design and one of Beijing's must-see attractions, the Summer Palace was the royal retreat for emperors fleeing the suffocating…
1.74 MILES
Flanked by triumphalist Soviet-style buildings, Tian'anmen Sq is an immense void of paved stone (440,000 sq metres, to be precise) at the symbolic centre…
2.01 MILES
Beihai Park, inside the old Imperial City, looks much as it would have done in the 18th century when it served as Emperor Qianlong's private gardens. The…
1.32 MILES
This immense fortress, part of the Ming City Wall Ruins Park, guarded the southeast corner of Beijing's city walls. Originally built in 1439 but repaired…
1.58 MILES
Instantly recognisable by its giant framed portrait of Mao, and guarded by two pairs of Ming dynasty stone lions, the double-eaved Gate of Heavenly Peace …
5.72 MILES
Contemporary art meets communist history at this thrilling enclave of international galleries installed within China's model factory complex of the 1950s…
Nearby Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central attractions
0.1 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…
0.43 MILES
Lost in a tumbledown hutong neighbourhood, this Buddhist temple is one of Beijing's best-preserved Ming dynasty structures. It was built in 1444 to honour…
0.5 MILES
After the CCTV Tower and the Bird's Nest Stadium, Beijing's Galaxy Soho trumpeted itself as the capital's next modern architectural landmark when it…
0.67 MILES
Squeezed between shopping malls on Wangfujing Dajie is the delightfully incongruous St Joseph's, dating, in its current incarnation, from 1901. In fact,…
0.8 MILES
This branch of the famous Sheng Xi Fu Hat Store has a quirky, free-to-visit hat museum out the back, revealing the history of the company and of hats in…
0.81 MILES
Monolithic shopping malls face each other across this prestigious avenue thronged with mostly out-of-town tourists. The late-20th-century Chinese…
0.85 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…
8. National Art Museum of China
0.93 MILES
Opened in 1963 with the personal endorsement of Mao Zedong, this gallery complex was conceived as the PRC's national nerve centre for artistic expression…