Chaoyang district

If capitalism is Beijing‘s new passion, then Chaoyang is its heart...

Lying in the north-east of the city, this area is home to most of the international companies, embassies and news agencies that have flooded into the country in pursuit of profit and one billion consumers. As a result, Western-style bars stud Chaoyang, as do occidentally-styled locals. This is not the part of Beijing to visit for a taste of the past, but if you want to see the Chinese giving lie to Kipling's phrase that east and west shall never meet, this is the place is for you.

Covering 470.6 square kilometres (292 square miles) and with a population of 2.29 million, Chaoyang is the largest and most densely populated urban district in Beijing. The city's new Central Business District, as well as hundreds of skyscrapers, hotels and new technology areas, such as the electronic town in Jiuxianqiao and Wangjing industrial park, make it the base for new industry and commerce.

Getting there

Chaoyang is the fastest developing part of Beijing and the public transport system is struggling to keep up with growth. Dongsishitiao Metro Station, beside the Poly Theatre and a ten minute walk from the Workers' Stadium and the Sanlitun area is currently the closest Metro stop to these locations. The nearby Dongzhimen Station is a good starting point for the Guijie food street. Chaoyangmen Station stops by the Dongyue Temple, and Guomao Station stops right at the main Guomao Shopping Mall in the centre of the Central Business District. The airport express road runs from the airport, passing Dashanzi and through Dongzhimen, to the Second Ring Road, making for a useful route through Chaoyang. Not particularly pedestrian friendly, at least this is one part of Beijing where you never have to wait long for a taxi.

Workers' Stadium area

Unlike Shanghai, Beijing has never been known as a party city. But you know what? Work hard, play hard could be the capital's new motto, and nowhere is this better shown than in the area around the Workers' Stadium (Gongti in Chinese). Over the last few years an active nightclub scene has built up on the south and west side of the stadium, and nearly all Beijing's mega-clubs can be found here. Gay club Destination and several high-end lounge bars such as Face and the Bank have ensured the area remains the nightlife king. To keep the clubbers fed there are 24-hour restaurants including Bellagio and Three Guizhou Men.

Daytime brings bus loads of tourists to the stadium's north gate for Yashow Market, all eager to stock up on dubious denims and dodgy DVDs. The Workers' Stadium itself was built in 1959 as a multipurpose venue and is home to Beijing's Guo'an football team as well as being the venue for major sporting occasions and music concerts. It's currently being refurbished for the Olympics and is due to reopen in August 2007, when it will host the quarter- and semi-finals of the local football cup competition. A block to the west of the Workers' Stadium is the Workers' Gymnasium, a smaller indoor arena that will host the boxing events for the 2008 Olympics.

Sanlitun

Only a few minutes' walk north of the Workers' Stadium is Sanlitun – Beijing's most famous bar area. Before 1949 the Legation Quarter near Tiananmen Square was the centre of diplomatic activity, but in the '50s it was moved outside the city centre to what is now known as Sanlitun. The large number of embassies and foreigners working in the nearby UN building encouraged entrepreneurs to open the first Western style bars and restaurants and today Sanlitun has become a popular bar street for foreigners as well as locals – Bar Blu and The Tree are among the more popular hangouts.

However, much of its original charm has been lost as street hawkers, prostitutes, small time drug dealers and beggars plague the area – especially in summer months when the tourists are in town. The main bar street is occupied mainly by Chinese-style bars dedicated to separating visitors from their money. Avoid these and head down the back streets for the more entertaining venues.

North of the main strip and on the other side of Dongzhimen, behind the German and Australian embassies, is a quaint quarter of tree-lined shady streets more reminiscent of Shanghai than Beijing. There is a smattering of mid-price Western and Asian restaurants – some with beautiful roof gardens – as well as an increasing number of boutique shops. Further east, where Dongzhimenwai Dajie meets the Third Ring Road, is the Agricultural Museum.

Despite the less than family-friendly characters that hang out around Sanlitun Jiubajie – literally Sanlitun Bar Street – it's still the first and main bar area of Beijing and one of the most popular spots to head to for a night out. The Sanlitun Mall and the 3.3 Shopping Centre are both worth a visit during the day to pick up some one-off pieces that can't be found at nearby Yashow Market. Nali Market just to the east of the main street is home to some clean and bright cafés and shops selling ethnic jewellery, affordable shoes, bags and clothes.

Nurenjie (Ladies' Street)

Nurenjie, just north of the Third Ring Road and behind the very swish Kempinski and Lufthansa hotels, is a rather confused mishmash of bright lights, dirty streets and a rancid lake. Nevertheless the bars, shops and market here are worth investigating. Far from picturesque, it does house some of the better markets in town, the best of which is Laitai Flower Market in the middle of Nurenjie, just south of the main road – the largest wholesale flower market in the city. Until recently flowers were most commonly given at funerals, but the last decade has seen giving flowers as gifts become popular. Laitai and its smaller neighbour, Liangma Flower Market, (east along Nurenjie and then due south) are the two places for the best blooms.

Below Ladies' Street is a subterranean market catering to – you guessed it – women! Bags, clothes, nailshops and a variety of other stalls sell everything a girl can need. Nurenjie is home to a string of small private shops selling everything from furniture to clothes, goldfish to car parts. If you can be bothered to sift through the tat, then you are likely to find a couple of really nice one-off articles.

Avoid Super Bar Street (Xinba Lu) – it's got lots of bars but drinking warm beer looking at a fetid lake falls short when it comes to living up to the 'super' bit. With the International Exhibition Centre just down the road and the American and Israeli embassies having moved to the area, speculators have begun to open a couple of fairly decent restaurants and bars. Things can only get better.

Chaoyangmen

Running the entire length of Chaoyangmen Avenue the Chaowai area is all about bright lights and tall buildings. However, among these new temples to mammon there lurks a temple to an older faith: Dongyue Temple, the largest Taoist Temple of the Zhengyi school of Taoism in China, which is well worth a visit. 

South of Chaoyangmen on Guanghua Lu is The Place, one of Beijing's latest shopping malls. Best of all is the huge Chaoyang Park with an amusement park, a boating lake, and grass you can walk on.

Ritan Park area

North of Jianguomen and south of Chaowai is the Ritan area – named after Ritan Park, the Temple of the Sun and one of the four famous Temple Parks. Stop in for a rest at the Stone Boat Café or one of the other restaurants surrounding the park.

This area is also known locally as 'little Moscow' - expect to find plenty of tall blond women drenched in fur being ferried around by rickshaw drivers. The Alien Market on Yaba Lu is a great place to find the most obscure items, or to get kitted out for Hallowe'en. It mainly sells knock-offs to Russian tourists. The district is also the other main embassy area and boasts a wide selection of markets including the Silk Market as well as the Russian market on Ritan Lu that predominantly sells furs to those tall blond women.

Central Business District (CBD)

High-rises, designer shops and five-star hotels are splattered around the hundreds of modern office buildings that make up the new CBD. Beijing's eastern skyline is dominated by the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and Jinwai Soho. The latter, built by property tycoon celeb couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, is the fourth mega city of home/offices that takes the Soho name. This one boasts a plethora of shops and fancy restaurants catering for the white-collar workers who live and work in the modern units. Until recently it had a rather ghost town air to it, but as more enterprises open shop the atmosphere has begun to improve.

Due to be completed for the Olympic Games, the new CCTV Building will be the architectural highlight of the area – architect Rem Koolhaas's 230-metre (755-foot) building is costing US$728 million and will provide some 550,000 square metres (136 acres) of space for news production, broadcasting and administration of the state TV company CCTV. Rather than the standard Asian billionaire's phallic tower, the structure is a Möbius-like loop generating a huge open space beneath it.The whole CBD area didn't exist a decade ago – building began in 1997 – an amazing feat when you see Beijing's Manhattan staring down at you.

Very little remains of the past except for Tuanjie Lake Park, a mere drop in the concrete ocean. This area is great for fashionistas to pick up the designer goods but offers little for the budget tourist.

Slap bang in the middle of the CBD are the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. It is here that China's new millionaires are made, and no doubt some of that money is provided by shoppers in what is also one of Beijing's best malls. A host of restaurants, cafés, bookshops and delis provide sustenance, and the centre is also home to an indoor ice rink.

Lido & 798 Art District

The north-east corridor from the city centre to the airport has been one of the fastest growing residential areas in recent years and the Lido Holiday Inn Hotel is its hub, with new bars, shops, restaurants and spas opening around it. Lido Park, opposite the hotel, has a small lake surrounded by tree-lined gardens with cafés offering a pleasant pit stop, while Si De Park just to the south of the hotel offers great sports facilities and is very family friendly.

Just to the north, and surrounded by new overpasses and the light rail to the airport, is the entrance to the 798 Art District. It looks as inconspicuous as many another compound entrances on the outskirts of Beijing, but guarding the entrance stands a six-metre (20-foot) 'village elder' greeting visitors to China's most avant-garde art district. The graffiti that covers many of the Bauhaus-style buildings juxtaposes with the Cultural Revolution slogans in peeling red paint, wishing Chairman Mao '10,000 years of long life'. The tree-lined streets walled off from the urban sprawl are home to the biggest collection of galleries and studios in China.

Built in the 1950s by the East Germans, the 640,000-square-metre (158-acre) space was a top-secret weapons factory rumoured to be where electronic components for guided missiles were built. Originally called Joint Factory 718 (all military factories started with the number 7) it was split into more manageable sub-factories in the '60s, of which 798 was the biggest and the name it is most commonly known by today. During the '80s, as state-owned assets were sold off, the land was put under the control of the Seven Stars Huadian Science and Technology Group, and by the late '90s many of the huge edifices were empty.

During the same time a group of independent artists – unpopular with the communist government – were evicted from their commune at the Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) where they had been living for almost a decade. Looking for a new area to call home they came across 798. Dean of Sculpture at the China Academy of Fine Arts, Sui Jianguo, got permission to use the well-lit factories, before opening his studio in 2000. Scores of artists and designers moved in, restaurants and bars followed, and a new living-working- latte-drinking neighbourhood was born.

In 2005, it seemed the area was under threat as the Seven Stars group realised the real estate value of the land. However, lobbyists, persuaded the district and Beijing government to make 798 a cultural showcase in the run up to the Olympics and it was saved from developers – at least until after 2008. But with rising rental costs many artists have been forced to move further out of town and some critics claim that the area has begun to sell out. 798 founder Huang Rui was recently controversially evicted from the district and with Seven Stars Group taking a more proactive role there are fears that the while 798 is only just beginning as a cultural hub, the utopian ideal of an artists' village may be coming to an end.

Beyond the Fifth Ring Road is the blooming Wangjing area – home to a large Korean population. Wangjing's Liquor Factory is fast becoming a new art district and large retail outlets such as Ikea are also springing up here. Beijing continues to grow outwards in concentric rings, but it is the north and east that are growing fastest. Shunyi is like an enclave of California with large villas being built for Western families and affluent Chinese. Songzhuang and Caochangdi are also artist villages, and – with lower rents and less tourists than 798 – are gaining a reputation for more experimental work.

Tom Pattinson