With a length of 232 meters (254 yards) and a width of 5 to 6 meters (5.5 to 6.6 yards), Yandai Xie Street (烟袋斜街),also known as Tobacco Pouch Tilt Street), starts at Di’anmenwai Avenue in the east and Xiaoshibei Hutong in the west, which joins Dashibei Hutong and Yapianer Hutong, and it was a prosperous commercial street specializing in the sales of tobacco pouches, calligraphy and paintings and jade articles during the Qing Dynasty (1616 -1911).

History

Initially known as Dayuting (a government institution in charge of fishing industry) Xie Street in the Ming Dynasty (1368- 1644) and Drum Tower Xie Street in the Emperor Qianlong’s reign of the Qing Dynasty (1616 -1911), Yandai Xie Street got its present name during the emperor Jiaqing’s reign of the Qing Dynasty (1616 -1911).

Two legends about Yandai Xie Street are very popular among Beijing locals, one of which is Yandai Xie Street resembles a tobacco holder in the east and a tobacco rod in the west, hence its name Tobacco Pouch Tilt Street. The other legend is related to the Empress Dowager, whose tobacco pouches were usually washed in Tong He Sheng Pouch Store and Shuang Sheng Tai Pouch Store on the street, therefore, the locals call it Yandai Xie Street.

Yandai Xie Street served as a famous commercial street in the Qing Dynasty (1616 -1911), where government officials, soldiers often purchased tobaccos and smoking sets, and it stimulated the development of tobacco industry. Yandai Xie Street reached its peak time during the late Qing Dynasty (1616 -1911) and the early period of Republic of China (1912 -1949), where more than 80 stores were opened, including tea houses, wine houses, tobacco stores and curios stores, and it has become a gathering site for antique dealers ever since.

Address: Di'anmenwai Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing

Getting there: Take Subway Line 2 to Gulou dajie or Subway Line 6 to Nanluoguxiang.

Source: chinatravel.com