Liulichang Cultural Street

　　    Liulichang Street is located outside Hepingmen in Beijing and is a well-known cultural street. It originated during the Qing Dynasty when candidates from various regions who came to Beijing to take the imperial examinations mostly stayed in this area. As a result, there were many shops selling books and stationery such as brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, creating a strong cultural atmosphere. There are many shops here dealing in antiques and calligraphy and paintings. Most foreign tourists visiting Beijing come here.

　　    The world-famous Liulichang Cultural Street in Beijing is located outside today’s Hepingmen, stretching west to Nanbeiliuxiang in Xuanwu District and east to Yanshousi Street in Xuanwu District, with a total length of about 800 meters. Historically, as far back as the Liao Dynasty, this place was not within the city but in the suburbs, then known as “Haiwangcun.” Later, during the Yuan Dynasty, official kilns were established here to produce glazed tiles. When the inner city was constructed during the Ming Dynasty, the scale of the official kilns was expanded due to palace construction, making Liulichang one of the five major factories under the Ministry of Works at that time. After the construction of the outer city in the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty, this area became part of the urban zone. Since it was no longer suitable to fire kilns within the city, the kilns were relocated to Liuliqiucun in present-day Mentougou District, but the name “Liulichang” remained and has been passed down to this day.

　　    In the early Qing Dynasty during the Shunzhi reign, a policy of “Manchu-Han separate residential areas” was implemented in the capital. Liulichang happened to be in the western part of the outer city where most Han people lived. Later, guildhalls from all over the country were also built nearby, and candidates taking imperial exams often gathered here to visit book markets. This shifted the bustling book markets that thrived during the Ming Dynasty in Qianmen, Dengshikou, and the City God Temple in Xicheng to gradually move to Liulichang. Booksellers from various regions also set up stalls, opened shops, and sold large collections of books here. The bustling market, along with convenient conditions, turned it into a “refined leisure destination in the capital,” gradually developing Liulichang into the largest book market in the city and forming a cultural street bustling with intellectuals. Related cultural items such as stationery, brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings also flourished accordingly.

　　    The antique book trade is the main industry of Liulichang, so much so that Liulichang itself arose because of books—without the antique book business, there would be no Liulichang. However, the antique book trade in Liulichang has also undergone a process of development and change. About 200 years ago, during the Qianlong reign and later in the Qing Dynasty, booksellers from Jiangxi held an absolute dominance in Liulichang. They even controlled the Wenchang Emperor Temple next to the Huoshen Temple in East Liulichang, which was worshipped by booksellers, and did not allow the less powerful northern booksellers to participate in regular sacrificial activities of the book trade. By the late Qing Dynasty, the situation of the antique book trade in Liulichang reversed—the Jiangxi booksellers gradually declined while Hebei booksellers rapidly rose to dominate the antique book trade, focusing more on academic research-oriented books rather than just examination-related materials. During the peak period of the antique book trade in the 1930s, there were over 200 antique bookshops in Liulichang. It’s impossible to list them all here, but we can briefly highlight a few representative shops, figures, and events to offer a glimpse into the bigger picture.

Liulichang Cultural Street isAAAa [Level] attraction