Introducing the Dashilan
Along the Dashilan Street, there are lots of restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, cinemas, teahouses, century-old establishments and other interesting places. The first theater of Beijing was opened in Dashilan when the Republic of China was just established in 1911. Some of the famous establishments are the Tongrentang Traditional Medicine Shop, which manufactures pills, powders and ointment since 1669; the Dongsheng Hat Shop, opened in 1811 and specialized in producing official’s hats and satin boots for the nobility; the famous Ruifuxiang Satin, Silk and Fur Shop, which opened in 1893. There are also the Neiliansheng Shoemaker's and the Nanyufeng Tobacco Shop, with a history of more than 100 years. Another reason for the popularity of Dashilan in the past was the great number of public entertaining facilities as well as some private brothels, though not officially recorded.
History
In the Ming Dynasty, the name Dashilan was not yet recorded in the work of Zhang Zhupo, “Blocks and Streets in the Five Boroughs of Beijing”. Only Langfang Toutiao, Langfang Ertiao, Langfang Santiao and Langfang Sitiao existed to the west of the road which was outside Qianmen (Front Gate). Langfang Sitiao was located in the same place as the present Dashilan which means that the name “Dashilan” did not exist during the Ming Dynasty. The so-called "Langfang" is often referred to the storerooms along the street. Although the name "Dashilan" was not used in the Ming Dynasty, the place where Dashilan situated was already a flourishing commercial district, with many merchants gathering there. In 1488, in order to maintain public safety in the capital, the imperial court built wooden fences at all the entrances to the streets and lanes in Beijing. The fence was completed with the contributions of local residents, and the total number of the fences was more than 1,700 at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Among them, the fence around Langfang Sitiao Street was funded by the merchants. For this reason, the fence was extremely large and thus got the name “Dashilan”. As time went by, Dashilan gradually became the formal name of the street in replacement of “Langfang Sitiao”. In 1899, Dashilan caught a fire and the wooden fence was burnt to ashes. From then on, the fence has practically disappeared, leaving only the name "Dashilan" itself. In 2000, the Beijing municipal government built a new iron fence at the entrance of Dashilan, and restored most of the shops.