Dashilan is a prosperous commercial and entertainment center in Beijing's history. In the past, people praised Dashilan with the reputation that "the essence of Beijing is here, and there is nothing more lively than this".

"Dashilan" was not originally named after this name, but called four corridors, with two or three cloisters nearby. In the map of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, it was marked with "Four Corridors", but when it came to the Full Map of Ganlong Capital, the name of the above mark was changed to "Dashilan".

Dashilan was built in the Ming Dynasty. In the first year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty (1488), he ordered to set up fences in the winding streets of Beijing, and sent soldiers to guard against thieves.

By the Qing Dynasty, it had become a major commercial center. Because there is a lot of business, in order to effectively guard against theft, the fence is bigger and more beautiful than other places, so it is called "Dashilan".

After Dashilan became a commercial center, some famous time-honored brands opened here one after another.

In the Ming dynasty, there was the Liubiju sauce garden that had been opened; Tongrentang, a Chinese medicine shop opened during Kangxi period in Qing Dynasty; Ma Juyuan hat shop and in-line shoe store, which opened in Jiaqing period, and Ruifuxiang silk and satin leather goods store, which is one of the eight scenic spots in all directions.

Eat, drink, be merry, live and be chief dried fruit shop, Zhang Yiyuan Wenji Tea House, Houdefu Restaurant, Quanjude, etc. Entertainment includes celebration paradise, Sanqing Garden and Guangde Building. There is also Daguanlou Cinema, the first cinema in Beijing that opened in the early years of the Republic of China. China's first film Dingjun Mountain was shown here.

Dashilan block preserved the pattern of "three verticals and nine horizontals" in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. "Three verticals" refers to coal market street, jewelry market street and grain shop street. "Jiuheng" refers to the nine east-west hutongs in Dashilan.

Dashilan is named after the iron fence.

Dashilan is worth a visit because it has always maintained the style of the old commercial street. The streets and lanes under the historical sites are antique buildings and original old Beijing customs.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the "night ban" became popular at night, and thousands of hutongs and streets were surrounded. Send troops to guard, pedestrians can't just go in and out. However, due to the civil and military officials in Beijing, it is quite troublesome to "specially open" the fence every day; Business, night entertainment, transportation and climbing fences are also quite troublesome; In particular, teahouses, theaters and brothels in the streets and lanes are often noisy until midnight, and the existence of fences is even more redundant. Therefore, these fences existed in name only during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.

The fence of Dashilan Street is still alive at 1922. This is because Dashilan is both a commercial area and an entertainment area. Although the government does not send troops to guard, businessmen still pay escort agencies to protect their own interests, which has played a positive role.

Dashilan is famous in business. This is an old street. Since the Yuan Dynasty, this is a place where merchants gather and streets are bustling. At that time, it was prosperous because it was in the land of Li Zhengmen. After the Qing soldiers entered Beijing, Dourgen ordered all the Han people in the inner city to move to the outer city (the main entrance of Li Qian) outside Zhengyangmen. Guilds, theaters and brothels were not allowed in the inner city, and many shops were forced to move to Cheng Nan. In this way, shops, restaurants, tea shops, vendors and small businesses gather bees and mosquitoes outside Zhengyangmen, making this place a climate.

This business district covers a large area. The streets and lanes in the urn between Zhengyangmen and Arrow Tower, such as Hebao Lane, Maoxiang Lane, Nanheyan, Mill Factory, Langfang Toutiao, Ertiao, Xianyukou and Dashilan, are densely populated by vendors. Dashilan and many old brands and brands around it have survived for decades and hundreds of years.

Nowadays, many gables on both sides of the street have been renovated or laid out, and the old brands are still there, and the people on the street are as crowded as ever. Rui Fuxiang has not changed; Zhang Yiyuan teahouse changed to frontispiece; In the window of Inline Shoe Store, shoe culture series is displayed, and three masters set up stalls to make shoes and perform cloth shoes production on the spot. The storefront of Tongrentang drugstore has already expanded, and the three-story antique building is very eye-catching in the street; Silk village in Laoruifu township left a paved wall with doors and no shops. The old door couplets and inscriptions were on the street, which looked like monuments and stage scenery.

Dashilan is worth a visit, because it never lags behind Shangchao. The font size is old, the signboard is old and the goods are new; There are many varieties, high grades, and everything in society; And from stalls to shops, it is a large collection of various modes of operation and scale of operation.