Dashilar Commercial Street

　　Dashilar: Dashilanr is a well-known commercial street situated outside Qianmen in Beijing. It now also broadly refers to an area that includes Dashilar Street, Langfang Toutiao, Liangshi Store Street, and Meishi Street. Located in the historic heart of Beijing, Dashilar forms an important part of the southern central axis. It lies south of Tiananmen Square and west of Qianmen Street, stretching 275 meters from its eastern to western entrance. Over more than 500 years of development since 1420 (the 18th year of the Yongle reign in the Ming Dynasty), it has gradually evolved into a bustling street lined with shops. There are 36 stores across 11 industries in Dashilar.

　　Restoring the early Republican-era appearance, Dashilar boasts a history of nearly 500 years and was once a thriving commercial district. It began to prosper in the Yuan Dynasty, was formally established in the Ming Dynasty, and has remained bustling since the Qing Dynasty to this day. In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion once reduced the entire street to ashes in a great fire, but it was rebuilt and remained vibrant. According to Xu Pingfang, an expert from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, this restoration was based on the appearance of the early Republican period. The origin of the name Dashilar dates back to the first year of the Hongzhi reign during the Ming Dynasty under Emperor Xiaozong. At that time, Beijing had a “curfew.” To prevent thieves from hiding in alleys and lanes, wooden fences were erected at the entrances of many streets and lanes with imperial approval. The Qing Dynasty’s “Qinding Lingdian Shili” records that 440 fences were approved for the outer city in the seventh year of the Yongzheng reign, 1,919 for the inner city in the eighteenth year of the Qianlong reign, and 196 within the imperial city. Dashilar was originally known as Langfang Sitiao (Fourth Lane of Langfang). Because the fence in this alley was particularly well-made, long-lasting, and larger than others, it gradually caught the attention of the city, and thus the name Dashilar came to refer to this lane.

Dashilar Commercial Street isAAAA-rated attraction