Shaanxi Lane in Beijing

　　From the Qianlong era to 1949, the top-tier Qingyin small courtesan houses were all located in Shaanxi Lane. These Qingyin houses were not just about prostitution; they offered more refined services such as accompanying guests for tea, banquets, music performances, singing, and even writing poetry and lyrics. In old Beijing, courtesans were divided into “Southern troupes” and “Northern troupes.” The “Southern troupes”—women from Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou—were well-educated, highly skilled in both beauty and artistry, proficient in instruments like the guqin, chess, calligraphy, painting, sheng, pipes, strings, and had a basic knowledge of poetry. Most could also cook well. The “Northern troupes,” from north of the Yellow River, were far inferior. Sai Jinhua and Xiaofengxian were both from Southern troupes (Xiaofengxian’s Yungu Courtesan House was at No. 22 Shaanxi Lane, now the Shaanxi Lane Hotel).

　　The area housed restaurants, bathhouses, pharmacies, teahouses, and opium dens. Of course, there were also tailors for the poor, fortune-tellers, scrap collectors, and gramophone performers. The “Two Halls and One School”—the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Imperial University of Peking—attracted both established and rising elites, such as Yuan Keding (Yuan Shikai’s second son), the celebrity Yang Du, Yunnan Governor Cai E, and Sichuan Governor Yin Changheng. In 1923, when Cao Kun ran for president, the price of votes was set in the Qingyin houses of the Eight Great Alleys.

　　Sai Jinhua’s Yixiang Courtyard is now a dormitory for employees of a Beijing leather company. Seven households live there.

　　Shaanxi Lane is located in Dashilan Subdistrict, Xuanwu District, Beijing. It is a north-south alley, starting from West Zhushikou Street in the south and ending at Tieshuxie Street in the north, with a total length of about 500 meters.

　　Shaanxi Lane

　　Shaanxi Lane has a long history. According to Sketches of Beijing Alleys by Xu Ying, in the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of merchants gathered in the area outside Qianmen, attracting businesses and goods. This lane became home to many timber merchants from Shaanxi who stored lumber here, hence the name Shaanxi Lane. In modern times, with the flourishing of southern Beijing culture, it became one of the busiest areas in southern Beijing. When mentioning the bustling spots of old southern Beijing, people often referred to: “Qianmen Street, Dashilan, Shitou Alley, and Shaanxi Lane” (these four are all connected and can be explored from north to south). Today, visiting the area around Shaanxi Lane, you can still see that most buildings on both sides are two-story structures made of blue bricks (these buildings were mostly theaters, teahouses, or brothels at the time, but now have mostly been converted into residential compounds or guesthouses).

　　The best-preserved building today is the “Deshou Pharmacy” on the west side of the southern entrance of the alley. It features a traditional front-shop-back-factory layout. This pharmacy is also one of Beijing’s long-established brands, with main products including “Niuhuang Jiedu Pills,” “Dashanzha Pills,” and various traditional Chinese patent medicines such as pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs.

　　As one of the earliest designated individual markets in Beijing after the reform and opening-up, especially since the 1990s, Shaanxi Lane once had an archway at its southern entrance called the “Shaanxi Lane Stall Market.” It was bustling with various stalls and vendors, making it one of the liveliest alleys in Beijing at the time. Of course, since the 21st century, Beijing has implemented unified management of scattered vendors, and with the urban redevelopment of the Liangguang area (Guang’anmen to Guangqumen), many long-time residents have moved out. Nowadays, Shaanxi Lane has gradually lost its former vibrancy.

　　Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development