Jingshen is the ideal place for seafood lovers. As the largest wholesale seafood market in Beijing, you can find anything: crabs, crawfish, fish and clam both from China’s coast and abroad. Jingshen offers better prices and quality than any other supermarkets in town.
For this article, visitbeijing.com went to the market in order to ring you the varieties of seasonal seafood available this month.
A busy market
Most sections of the market are devoted to large-scale, wholesale purchases, so that to keep your expectations low in terms of a clean shopping environment as it can be a little messy in there.
The retail vendors converge on the first floor of a three-floor building located at the center of the market, where you can find most of popular kinds of seafood. Crawfish are placed in different tanks according to their size, and various types of conches, clams and sea crabs are kept in basins. Flounder and sturgeons float in the aquariums, peering idly through the glass.
Some outdoor stalls are lined along the other side of the building, with a motley array of live sea creatures. Every stall is crowded with customers asking prices, making their selections and bargaining.
The City’s Shiquanfang snack town is located on the third floor, where you can eat the seafood you just bought on the first floor. You can also ask for a shopping guide there, who will bargain and help you buy seafood. The prices of processing different seafood and different ways of cooking it are different according to the quantity and cooking methods. Various cooking methods are available, including Guangdong, Fujian and Dalian styles.
There are also some restaurants on the other side of the street outside the market, which also provide seafood-processing service at an even lower price.
Jingshen seafood market Where: Jingshen Seafood Market 232 Shiliuzhuang Xi Jie, Fengtai district Open: 7 am – 8 pm Shiquanfang snack town opens between 11 am – 9 pm. The restaurant is always crowded especially on weekends. Reserved rooms fee is 30 yuan. Tel: 8728 0248
How to get there
Take subway Line 5 and get off at Songjiazhuang station. Come out from Gate A, and you will see a bus stop on the right side. Take 511 and get off at Guangcai Lu Nankou. The entrance of the market is on the other side of the road. You can also take a motor tricycle to get there from subway station at the price of 5 yuan.
If you drive there, head 1.5 kilometers to the south of Zhaogongkou Qiao, South Third Ring Road. The parking fee inside market is 2 yuan per hour for a car or 4 yuan per hour for a van.
