2 Best Shopping in Pearl River Delta, China

Beijing Pedestrian Road offers an interesting contrast to Shangxiajiu. While Shangxiajiu is lined with new stores in old buildings, Beijing Road makes no pretense at being anything other than a fully modern, neon-draped pedestrian mall, similar to Beijing's Wangfujing Street or Shanghai's East Nanjing Road. Pedestrianized and open from around 10 am until 10 pm, this is where city teenagers buy mid-range Hong Kong-style clothes and increasingly garish local brands. Noisy and fun, the street is lined with cheap food stalls, cafés, and fast-food chains.

Shangxiajiu, officially known as Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Road, is a massive warren of old buildings and shops and considered the user-friendly heart of Old Guangzhou, otherwise known as "Xiguan." The half-mile main street is a pedestrian mall lined with hundreds of shops and department stores. The buildings in Shangxiajiu are old, but the stores are the same ones as in "modern Guangzhou." Even though the overall decibel level hovers around deafening, the area isn't without its charms. Our favorite shops are the small storefronts offering dried-fruit samples, which are very addictive. There's also a wide variety of street stalls selling a large selection of delicious edibles.