Donghuamen Night Market 

Donghuamen Night Market was popular night market located northern end of Wangfujing in Beijing, China. It was one of the most famous and bustling night markets in the city, offering a wide variety of street food, snacks, and souvenirs. The market is situated near the Wangfujing shopping street, making it easily accessible for both locals and tourists. Dong Hua Men is written 东华门, the name of the East Gate of the Forbidden City.

Donghuamen Night Market was renowned for its vibrant atmosphere and diverse culinary offerings. Visitors could explore the market and indulge in a wide array of traditional Chinese snacks and delicacies. The market stalls were filled with a colourful assortment of food items, including skewered meats, seafood, dumplings, noodles, fried insects, exotic fruits, and much more.

Beijing’s Donghuamen Night Market was been selling insect delicacies for over three decades, but its time selling edible scorpions on a stick, among other items, drew to a close in 2016. The market, was usually teeming with customers. The market was popular with tourists and locals alike, but after harsh criticism from neighbours—it could get quite noisy and was said to smell like “stinky tofu”—authorities decided to shut it down in 2016.

Aside from food, Donghuamen Night Market also offered a range of souvenir and gift shops. You could find a variety of traditional Chinese handicrafts, trinkets, clothing, and other items to bring back as mementos of your visit.

The market typically opened in the evening and remained open until late at night, allowing visitors to enjoy the bustling atmosphere and feast on delectable treats well into the night. The combination of the vibrant ambiance, aromatic scents, and bustling crowds made Donghuamen Night Market an exciting and must-visit destination for food lovers and travellers looking to experience local Chinese culture.

The market opened in 1984 and it wasn’t all bugs: it also carried a wide variety of Chinese food items, from egg rolls to duck, even if the insects were what made it famous. Located in the centre of Beijing, on a street only around 1,000 feet long, the market had become a popular destination in recent years. But officials recently became concerned over a lack of proper storage for the food and waste disposal. The market shop owners tended to leave their waste in the middle of the street so obviously that didn’t help to secure the survival of the market. And even though Donghuamen is closed, bug eating is far from done. It is, in fact, our future …. or so do the “experts” say.