| Beijing's newly developed commercial street takes advantage of business opportunities |
Yandai Byway neighbors the Houhai (Back Sea) area and sits north of Di'anmen, one of the four city gates in China's capital city.
|
|
| |
| |
Starting from the end of 2006, Beijing began to build 10 special commercial districts and 15 characteristically commercial streets to meet the anticipated shopping demand expected by increased numbers of tourists in 2008. Yandai Byway (Smoking Pipe Street), near Shichahai, the famous scenic area that includes Houhai (Back Sea), is one of the 15 streets being dedicated to commercial interests.
Itself spanning a length of 232 meters, Yandai Byway is surrounded by characteristic Beijing "hutong" (traditional courtyard) streets and alleys. This particular street underwent several name changes: in the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the street was titled Dayuting Byway, "Fishing Hall Street;" it was later changed to Gulou Byway, "Drum Tower Street" before taking on its present name, Yandai Byway, "Smoking Pipe Street." In the past, most of the dwellers in the area had a fondness for smoking pipe tobacco. Because of the increasing demand for tobacco, the street saw tobacco shops opening up one by one for business. At the time, most of the tobacco shops catered to the upper class, with wooden signboards standing erect outside the front of the stores. Black tobacco pipes and golden pipe bowls were their symbols. This is how Fishing Hall Street or Drum Tower Street slowly became Smoking Pipe Street. The name stuck not only because of the love for tobacco that the people living in the area had, the street even looked like a long pipe, with narrow alleys forming the "stem" and the western entrance giving the look of a "bowl" of a tobacco pipe.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yandai Byway became a harbor for antique sales. Here, a few antique jade shops were established. Since then, the street has seen the coming and going of several bars, restaurants, clothing shops, and hair salons.
Now, with Yandai Byway becoming a special commercial street, with nearly 60 businesses in the area, the street is taking on the look and feel of traditional cultural industries. At present, other than the restaurants and bars located on the street's eastern and western entrances, the other shops sell tobacco pipes, lanterns, kites, tea sets, antiques, ethnic clothing and art, welcoming tourists from home and abroad.
|
|
|
|
|