If the Forbidden City has been a capsule of China's royal culture since the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), then the Dashilan area in Qianmen is that of grassroots culture over the same period.
Dashilan Street, the oldest commercial street in Beijing, is now more packed than ever. Besides the usual hordes of tourists, more locals are also thronging to the area for a farewell visit and a last taste of old Beijing.
Starting from May, the city will begin to convert the Dashilan area, one of the last remnants of bustling old Beijing, into a modern commercial zone selling Chinese style garments, jewellery and cuisine, as well as courtyard-style hostels, by 2008.
A prosperous business area since the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), Dashilan is as unique to Beijing as the way the name sounds. Dashilan is how the locals say "Dazhalan" in standard Mandarin, and means big fences.
Its history can be traced back around 600 years ago when the Emperor ordered fences to be built to prevent thieves getting in the area. The fences remained for a long time, and thus came the name of the area.
It has been the centre of old Beijing's leading retail market for centuries, with the streets and hutongs around the area bustling with people and atmosphere.
In the past, this district was cluttered with teahouses, theatres, acrobatic shows, brothels, opium dens, stalls and crowds from all walks of life.
Today it has been cleaned up and is now a major shopping street. A new look replaces some of the chaos but the atmosphere of the district remains. Cinemas, video halls, karaoke bars and clubs vie with long-established traditional Chinese stores for space and attention in this intriguing little area of the capital.
Yet, this soon will become history as the area is to be levelled and residents relocated, during the two-year-long restoration.
Being the host of the 2008 Olympic Games, the Beijing Municipality decided to transform and reorganize some 300 "villages-amid-the-city" and urban "corners" in Beijing which are considered dirty, chaotic and poor and the Dashilan area was one of the first on the list.
Despite its historical prosperity, Dashilan has deteriorated into "a typical slum" in recent decades, according to the "Investigation of Urban Corners in Beijing," a report published by the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences in July 2005.
Population density in the area was 45,000 persons per square kilometre, and the housing was over-crowded, with many dangerous and old buildings posing a serious fire hazard. Other problems cited in the report included a shortage of water and electricity, poor hygiene, worsening public security, the rampant sale of counterfeit goods, plus a huge number of migrant workers living on less than 8 yuan (US96 cents) a day.
Over the past few years, the city government has discussed details of the renovation with cultural heritage experts, in an attempt to preserve some of the well-known courtyards, lanes and the ancient retail centre of Dashilan.
"The Dashilan area will maintain its overall pattern, cultural relics and valuable compounds despite the renovations," said Wu Bihu, director of Tourism Research and Development Centre associated with Peking University and one of the consultants for the project.
According to the professor, heritage-themed tourism will become the major industry for the area after the renovation, integrated with attractions and activities including hutong sightseeing, a traditional Chinese commercial shopping pedestrian street, courtyard family hostels, making it an urban holiday destination.
Qianmen Dashilan Shopping Market
