'Meet me at Wangfujing': Tales from a Beijing neighborhood

I first started frequenting Wangfujing in summer 1994, as it was home to the Foreign Languages Bookstore. There I could purchase the latest street maps, since even then Beijing was changing quickly. I would discover publications on the city, including one based around sketches of its traditional hutong alleys. One pocket-sized guidebook was based on colorful drawings of the capital's main streets, parks and attractions. This was a time when there was not much information outside of China except for travel guides, which lacked the detail I required. Today Beijing has many top bookstores, some with coffee shops where visitors can quietly scan through the many volumes on display. But the Foreign Languages Bookstore will always be an icon, an oft-treasured memory for earlier visitors.