Pingdingshan

Buy

Although Pingdingshan is a small city, basic shopping needs here can be met. The shopping experience at Pingdingshan blends modern urban convenience with local characteristics—ranging from modern shopping districts like Wanda and Denis to pedestrian streets and night markets that retain a strong sense of fireworks. Whether you're a tourist or a local resident, you can find your own shopping pleasure here.

On Pingdingshan, there are three decent department stores where you can find almost all kinds of household items, as well as many excellent brands, and where cinema and dining services are integrated. But since Pingdingshan is a four-tier city, you might not have the luxury items you need. However, a pedestrian street connects the three main roads in the center of Pingdingshan city: Tiyu Road, Central Road, and Kaiyuan Road。This is the commercial district, home to many merchants, shops, cinemas, dining venues, and various leisure and entertainment options. Affordable prices make it a common area for locals to visit.

Eat

PingDingShan has a diverse array of fine Chinese cuisine. Its location at China's center means you can find almost any type of Chinese food here. The city is big enough to have a scattering of cosmopolitan restaurants, and while there are a number of imitation Korean, Japanese, Indian, and Western options about, you will do best to stick with Chinese food. From street food to local delicacies, this city has a rich, authentic, and down-to-earth flavor.

Drink

The following bars are mostly the same setup. An open space with a short bar, then two levels of booths wrapped around the open space. They play Chinese pop and most people play dice-game over their beer, fruit, popcorn and cigarettes. The bartenders and servers are all nice and helpful. They sell beer and mixed drinks. Very few people speak English but you won't have a problem finding instant "best friends" at these places: 2046 Beer Club (er-ling-si-liu jiu-ba) - Laodong Road (a block south of jianshe road, second floor) - A good place to unwind after work, as it's probably the earliest opening bar (17:00-18:00) along with Pinwei bar. Probably the original expat bar in town. There was once as many as three foreigners in the place at one time! Has a stage where you can sing your favorite Chinese pop songs and quite a regular following of customers. The boss is a wild and crazy Hui minority who looks more like a hipster Mexican with his beard and baseball cap. Big, cheap (¥10) bottles of Qingdao, Snow beer and occasionally a homebrew on tap. Pinwei jiu-ba Flavor Bar - Chaoyang rd. alongside the little canal beside the Pingdingshan Hotel on Jianshe road. An amazingly relaxing place open by a coal-mine boss which caters to a rather hidden collection of higher-ups and visiting Korean/Japanese businessmen. The prices here are just a bit more than usual (¥20 big qingdao) but the quiet and the small crowd makes it worth it. Good Mr. Huang and Lovely Ms. Jin basically run the bar ev…

Go next

Yaoshan (formerly Shirenshan) - A classic Chinese mountain park. Some impressive rock formations and low-altitude peaks with stone trails up and down them. There is also an Austrian gondola to the mountain's summit for some stomach-wrenching heights.