|
Dazhalan Market
During the Ming and Qing, a curfew was frequently
imposed at night. Barriers (zhalan) erected at both ends of streets
and alleys were closed as soon as the curfew came into effect, making
passage impossible. According to the Imperially commissioned Record of
the Major Events of the Great Qing Dynasty, there were more than 1,090
barriers erected in the Inner City area as well as 196 inside the
Imperial (Manchu) City. Dazhalan was one of these 1,200-old
structures, and although the barrier itself is gone, its name has
remained. Dazhalan, literally the “ Great Fence,” was
from early times the site of a busy market. In the years of Emperor
Yongle (reigned 1403-1424), it was crowed with shops, and as trading
in the city became concentrated around the Zhengyangmen area, Dazhalan
developed into a popular market. In 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied
Forces attacked Beijing, Dazhalan was reduced to a heap of rubble,
although it was quickly rebuilt as it stands today.
Dazhalan Street, only 270 meters long and nine meters wide, has 37
shops and service establishments. Many of the specialty shops still
exist, for example, the Tongrentang Traditional Medicine Shop, which
has manufactured pills, powders and ointment since 1669; the old
Juyuan Hat Shop, now called the Dongsheng Hat Shop, opened in 1811 and
specialized in producing official’s hats and satin boots for the
nobility; and the famous Ruifuxiang Satin, Silk and Fur Shop, which
opened in 1893. There are also the Neiliansheng Shoemaker’s and the
Nanyufeng Tobacco Shop, both more than 100 years old. The Xinrong
General Store has a history of 80 years. These old shops
enjoy a high reputation among local residents. Their continued
prosperity can be traced not only to their worked to develop
specialties sold at fair prices. Tongrentang, for example, having
supplied medicinal herbs to the imperial court, was later appointed to
make up prescriptions for the emperor. During the reign of Emperor
Guangxu (1875-1908). Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the shop to produce
all the medicines used by the imperial court. During the Qing Dynasty,
the Neiliansheng Shoemaker’ s kept careful records of boot sizes and
preferred styles of all the military and civil officials who shopped
there. If an official wished to have a pair of boots made, he merely
sent a note to the shop and a pair of perfectly fitting footwear would
be made to order. After the fall of the Qing, this market disappeared,
but the shop quickly adapted by making cotton shoes out of the layered
cloth soles previously used for the court boots. Another
reason for Dazhalan’ s popularity was the great number of public
amusements concentrated here. There were five large theaters, the
Qingleyuan (Celebrating Happiness Playhouse), Sanqingyuan (Three
Celebrations Playhouse), Guangdelou (Extensive Virtue Playhouse),
Guangheyuan (Extensive Harmony Playhouse) and the Tongleyuan (Common
Happiness Playhouse). When Qing rules made a law prohibiting
“uproarious noises in the Inner City areas close to the palace,”
gentry and rich merchants passed through Qianmen (Front Gate or
Zhengyangmen) Gate in the evenings to see plays and operas.
After 1949, state-run enterprises were established here, Two
department stores, a women’ s clothing shop and children’s shop
enabled Dazhalan to supply an even wider range of consumer goods.
Nowadays Dazhalan bustles with crowds from morning to night. |
:
