Located in the west of Zhubaoshi Street, close to dashilan commercial area, Qianshi Hutong is the narrowest hutong preserved in Beijing, with 55 meters long, 0.7 meter wide, the narrowest point at 40 centimeters, so when two people meet, one of them will have to turn around and exit before the other can pass to their respective end.

The west of the end of the hutong was an awning, at which was the financial center of monetary exchange in Qing Dynasty, called “Qianshi” for short, hence the name of the hutong. The trading hall was the site for exchanging silver and currency. Though traders only did book-keeping transactions and calculated rates of profit and losses in prices rather than carrying the actual silver and currency. Qianshi Hutong was spacious at that time, not as narrow as it is now. So to speak, Qianshi Hutong was the earliest existing as well as the most complete in terms of financial exchanges in China.

With the passage of time, Qianshi Hutong will be transformed to be another important scenic spot similar to Qianmen Dashilan Area retaining the features of the “earliest financial street in China".