I decided to point out some of the key places in and around Wudaokou – BLCU area. This is a “cheatsheet” to places which I regularly went to around the Wudaokou – BLCU area. They’re the typical places which you would discover yourself given time, but I would have loved it if someone told me about these places earlier!

Note: a lot of shops closed down and a lot of new ones opened up so not everything might be applicable.

Shopping in Wudaokou – BLCU

Lotus Center

Directions: Walk down Chengfulu towards Wudaokou, it’s opposite Maccas (McDonald). Large supermarket/shopping center.

Wudaokou Clothing Market

Directions: Walk east, past China Post and the Chaoshifa to the junction of Chengfulu and Xueyuanlu traffic lights (where macca’s is). Walk south and cross at the overpass and continue down until you reach a stretch of little food shalls and a dodgy looking building.

Buying DVDs

If you’re sick of CCTV, you can get your hands on a lot of foreign movies and series for cheap.

Location:

• There’s a deli/store set up next to the BLCU canteen, it’s at the base of the stairs which lead up to the food court and restaurant area. They sell a other knick knacks and snacks as well.
• XiJiao Hotel Recreation building on the top floor has good quality DVDs for a couple of kuai more. Their series can go to about 160RMB or more.
• Street Vendors also have a box or bag of DVDs, usually found around subway stations or street markets

Price: I forget exactly how much it costs, I think a single DVD is 5-8RMB and a series is about 15-20RMB. Longer series / box sets costs much more, around 160RMB and more (depending on how many dvds there are).

Quality: The DVD quality from the guys at the stairs range from ‘camera in cinema’ quality to dvd-rips. The shop at XiJiao Hotel is very good quality dvd-rip, but a few might be tv-sync.

Refund/Exchange: If the dvd doesn’t work, I take it back to the shop and exchange it. I never refunded them, and I doubt it’s possible.

I found the ones in Dalian slightly cheaper and had better quality than the ones I found in Beijing.

Eating on BLCU Campus

Canteen

Found next to the BLCU Bookstore, the Canteen takes up the ground floor of the building where all the students flock to during lunchtimes. The canteen only opens during certain times of the day, generally during meal times.

You can only purchase food here with a card which you have to buy (sorry I forget where you buy it from), and this card can be used upstairs as well. I didn’t really check if it’s true, but I’ve been told that it’s cheaper (by a few kuai) to eat downstairs…

Just remember that you pay for the items which you want instead of a once off payment. Generally 2 items and a block of rice (yes, it really is a block) is enough.

Food Court, Japanese, Chinese, Korean Restaurant and Cafe

I don’t know if there’s actually a name for this place, but it’s located upstairs of the Canteen. This is probably where most of the international students eat.

There’s a pretty nice Japanese Restaurant upstairs of the little deli which sells dvds. It’s across from the cafe and there a Chinese ‘Restaurant’ next to the Japanese Restaurant and Cafe and between this Chinese ‘Restaurant’ and the Canteen is a Korean Restaurant.

Muslim Restaurant

Don’t actually know the names of these places, but the Muslim Restaurant is joined to the Canteen building found closer to the Basketball courts. Everyone loves this place and the food here is great, you can’t go wrong with the meat sticks and bread.

But note that sometimes there’s more fat/tendon/cartilage than meat, bring tissues. Oh yeah, the bowls are for you to drink from.

Lush/Pyro

Upstairs the bookstore on the corner of Chengfulu at the traffic lights, opposite KFC. American owned, hangout. Very similar to Pyro.

Pancake stalls

These can be found everywhere throughout Beijing. It’s a delicious meal on the go, especially in winter, and costs only a few kuai. It’ll cost more if you want to add stuff to it, or if you’re in a tourist hotspot.