The street of Qianmen(the Font Door) was openned to the public on 7th August. Being called “Celestial Street”, it has got over 570 years history. The old generations in Beijing all said only when you step into Qianmen that we can say you have enter the authentic capital---Beijing.

As almost all their basic necessities of life have relationships with it, Beijingers have a special feeling towards Qianmen. Those things are Beijing Roast Duck in Quanjude Restaurant, Shaomai(Steamed Pork Dumplings) in Duyichu Restaurant, watches in Hendry and Chinese tea in Zhangyiyuan Tea House……Qianmen is also the cradleland of many kinds of Beijing-dialect Culture such as cross talk, Beijing Qin Music, Drum Song of Peking etc. Among these native Beijing folk art forms, lots of libretto selections embody the description of Qianmen and the local folk customs of Qianmen.
Today let’s go through several other ancient streets to find out China’s Time-honored National Brands with new faces.

Di’anmen: the Largest Flagship Shop of Wuliangye White Liquor

As one of the landmark architectures along Midline in Beijing, Di’anmen is the north door of Imperial City, whose south door is Tian’anmen. Di’anmen( the land) in the north goes against Tian’anmen( the sky) in the south, which means world peace and favorable weather for harvest.

Di’anmen is one of the four doors in Beijing Imperial City, which currently is made a general reference to Di’anmen East, Western Street, Di’anmen nei(Inside Di’anmen), and the cross road of Waidajie Street. Being regarded as a famous business street since Yuan Dynasty, Di’anmen Waidajie Street now includes Makai Dining Hall, Di’anmen Shopping Mall, Di’anmen Electric Appliance Mall, Di’anmen Drug Store, Di’anmen Xinhua Bookshop, Tianjin Goubuli Bao’Zi Shop ,HeyiZhai Shop and so on totling over ten shops.

The largest Wuliangye Flgship Shop with most characteristic in Beijing is located in Di’anmen.With 3000-year-history, Wuliangye is the spokesman of China’s white liquor history and China’s harmony culture, which is not only included in the list of China’s Time-honored Brands, but also is listed into the State-class Immaterial Culture Directory thanks to her traditional brewing technics.

Cheng Yin Street:China Nation’s Eternal Spirit

Cheng Yin Street, also known as Imperial Academy, is one of the rarest traditional streets in Beijing city, which locats inside Andingmen in East-city District.

Near the entrance of the street stands the two-pillar-three-arch-style Decorated Archway, on which embeds a royal blue plaque with three large golden characters “Cheng Yin Street” on it. In northern side of both roads all stand stone tablet engraved with” both civilian and military officials shall dismount a horse” in both Manchu and Chinese. A kind of special aroma suffuses among the street, which is the combination of academic flavor in Imperial Academy, the fragrance of cypress trees in Confucian Temple and the sandalwood in Yonghe Lama Temple.

First built in Yuan Dynasty, the Imperial Academy is the highest institution of higher learning in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty, which currently is the location of Capital Library. With cypress trees reaching the sky and solemn silence in the courtyard, this Imperial Academy is a collecting place of many talented persons both domestically and abroad at that time. Bordered by the Imperial Academy, the Confucial Temple is bullit with red walls and yellow tiles to embody her magnificent and resplendent scale. Inside the Xianshimen Door stood several line of tall stone tablets on both sides, which was the famous nameplates of the third-degree scholars in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty. Combined with Han, Manchu and Tibetan architectural arts together,Yonghe Lama Temple is the largest Buddism architecture in Beijing to form a splendid ancient architectural groups.

Liuli Chang: Fragrant Ancient Cultural Street

Located at Hepingmen Wai in Beijing, Liuli Chang(colored glaze plant) Ancient Cultural Street is 800 meters long, which was named as it was bulit as an official ware from Yuan Dynasty to fire glazed tiles. Afterwards the scholars failed in the Imperial Examination became to sell books,ink, ink stone and collections here, which gradually made it a center to purchase and sell traditional cultural craftworks.

Some China’s Time-honored Brands such as Guyizhai House, Rongbaozhai House,China Book Store, the Commercial Press and China Books Bureau are all the golden signboards. There are over 100 ancient cultural shops to sell not only ancient books,calligraphy and paintings, but also book of stone rubbings,seals,ink, ink stones,writing brushes, all kinds of craftworks and antiques.
The China Book Store here exlusively sales block-printed editio and handwritten copies, which is the best place to buy antient books. However, the most famous old shop in Liuli Chang shall be Rongbaozhai House, whose forerunner is “Songzhuzhai House”. It was renamed as “Rongbaozhai House” by choosing the meaning of “to make friends by one’s writing, Rong Ming (honor and repute) is Bao(treasure).” In the end of Qing Dynasty, lots of men of literature and writtings always gathered here at that time. During the republican period the older generation of artists such as Yu Youren, Zhang Daqian, Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi were also habitues of Rongbaozhai House. In Rongbaozhai House, the most famous works shall be the Board Watermark and duplicates, which were also praised by Lu Xun.