Thursday, March 22, 2012




Qianmen Street is a famous pedestrian street. It runs from Jianlou (the Archery Tower) of Zhengyangmen in the north to the turning of Tiantan Park in the south. Qianmen Street is 840 meters (about 919 yards) in length and 21 meters (about 23 yards) in width. It is composed with buildings whose styles resemble the late Qing Dynasty (1644 --- 1911). Qianmen Street has history of more than 570 years. It was called Zhengyangmen Street during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and finally named Qianmen Street in 1965. During the Qing Dynasty, there were many specialized outlets on either side of Qianmen Street, such as a meat market, cloth market and jewelry market. And there were also many craftsman workshops, warehouses and theatres in the Hutongs nearby.After more than one year's renovation, Qianmen Street reopened on August 7th before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is a symbol of genuine Beijing local culture. Qianmen Street has many of China's time-honored names. Visitors can enjoy a traditional Chinese way of life. Moreover, Qianmen Street has many international brands, such as H&M, Haagen-Dazs, Sephora, ZARA, Qggle, COSTS CAFÉ, and SK Jewelry. The most famous of China own names are as follows: Quanjude, Yitiaolong, and Douyichu, and Changchuntang.Douyichu, with history of 250 years, was evolved from a tavern. It is said that the name was granted by  Dangdang Che (trams) is also worthy of being mentioned. They were first introduced to Beijing in 1924, running from Qianmen to Xizhimen. In 1966, they were abandoned. Due to advanced technology, two of them have returned at Qianmen Street as sightseeing cars. With the same look of the old ones, they start from the opposite ends of the street. Each one can accommodate up to 84 visitors at a time.





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