Dashilan Business District

Dashilan is a famous business street outside Qianmen Street of Beijing. Now it generally refers to an area with Dashilan Street, Langfangtoutiao, Food Store Street and Meishi Street included. Dashilan is located in the center of the old city, Beijing, south of the Tian’anmen Square and west of Qianmen Street. It is an important part of the south mid-axis line. The length of it is 275 meters from the east end to the west end. Since 1420 (the eighteenth year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty), going through more than 500 years of changes and reforms, it has gradually developed into a business street full of shops. You can find 36 shops from 11 kinds of industries along the Dashilan.

With a history of about 500 years, Dashilan was once a bustling business district in the initial stage of the Republic of China. It started during the Yuan Dynasty, formed in Ming Dynasty and boomed ever since Qing Dynasty. In 1900, the Boxer burned the whole street into ruins; however, it regained prosperity after restoration. According to the introduction of XuPingfang, an expert of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, this restoration is based on the appearance in the initial stage of the Republic of China. The origin of Dashilan can be dated back to the first year of Hongzhi during the reign of Xiaozong in Ming Dynasty. At that time, there was a curfew in Beijing. Approved by the court, many wooden fences were set up in many streets and lanes in case robbers should hide among these places. According to the records in Qing Ding Ling Dian Shi Li, there were 440 fences outside the city approved in the seventh year of Yongzheng, 1919 fences inside the city approved in the eighteenth year of Qianlong, and 196 fences within the imperial city. It used to be Langfang Sitiao. Since the fences built in this street were splendid, long preserved and a little bigger, it gradually became well-known in Beijing. Therefore, Dashilan later became the name of this lane.

Best Touring Time: May to October

Visiting Time: about 1 hour

Address: No. 44 LangfangErtiao, Xicheng District, Beijing