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Beijingers take shopping the same way as athletes take their sports, they can’t be more serious. For several hundred years, Beijingers have been coming back to the same street of shops near the famous Beijing Emperor Hotel to buy their daily supplies and special items.

As an old Beijing saying goes: buy shoes at Nei Lian Sheng, hats at Ma Ju Yuan, fabrics at Rui Fu Xiang, and tea at Zhang Yi Yuan, which are all famous brands on this street, called Da Shi Lan. 

Right near the Forbidden City, it’s very easy to find Da Shi Lan and the shops that have been in business for hundreds of years.

Simply walk south from the Beijing Redwall Hotel, past Tian’anmen Square, and you’ll be there in five minutes.

The oldest commercial street in Beijing, Da Zha Lan began to boom in as early as Ming dynasty 600 years ago. Meaning ‘big fences’, the street might be as unique as it sounds.Nearly 600 years ago, worrying the rampant thefts in Beijing, an emperor ordered fences to be built to prevent the ill phenomenon. Residents in the Da Zha Lan area built fences that were higher and stronger, and thus people began to dub the area ‘big fences’ for easy reference.

Like it was hundreds of years ago, the street today is packed with teahouses, tailor shops, silk stores, theatres, restaurants, as well as handicraft stores. They cluster one after another in ancient buildings that immediately bring you back in time!

The Shops

Nei Lian Sheng

The 160-year old shop Nei Lian Sheng near the Beijing Hwa Apartment Hotel sells handmade cloth shoes. Their shoes are famous for the excellent craftsmanship and unmatchable comfort.

In the past, the major patrons of shoes made in Nei Lian Sheng were offials working in imperial palace nearby. Not only were the shoes made with excellent finish, but the name suggested something that everyone hoped to fulfil: spiralling up to be the top-ranked officals.

Today, workers apply the same techniques used a hundred years ago to make customized shoes. The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was a big fan of Nei Lian Sheng and many of his shoes were made here.

Ma Ju Yuan

The hat shop Ma Ju Yuan was built in 1817. Starting from a small stall, the shop came to make the ‘red turf hat’ for the Qing dynasty government.

That was probably why old Beijingers took a hat made in Ma Ju Yuan as a showy object.

In the years that followed, the shop saw countless orders for hats from princes, religious figures, and foreign leaders. Even today, many people prefer to have a hat made to order in Ma Ju Yuan.

Rui Fu Xiang

Established in 1891, the shop sells all kinds of top-quality fabric: cotton, silk, woolen cloth, and so on.

The very first flag of P.R. China, the one raised in 1949 in its nation-founding ceremony, was actually a work of Rui Fu Xiang.

Tailors of the shop make some of the most gorgeous cheongsams you are likely to find in Beijing. Numerous foreign tourisits had fell in love with their products and ordered one of their own here for a showy display back home.

Zhang Yi Yuan

In 1900, Zhang Yi Yuan came into business. Ever since then, the shop has been some of the best tea you can find in Beijing. Each year, they purchased tea leaves directly from tea-growing farmers. They only sell tea grown and processed in a completely natural way.

They put into use some unique techniques to process tea leaves, which are sought after by many seasoned tea lovers. Now there special jasmine tea is sold at a low price and is worth trying.

Da Guan Cinema

Da Guan Cinema, Beijing’s first cinema, was established in 1905. You can even find it in the Guinness Book of Records as the cinema with the longest, uninterrupted cinema in the world.

Today, the cinema is pretty much in its original decor, and you can enjoy a film while sipping tea like people did several decades ago. Every day, increasing number of people flock in for the one-of-a-kind experience of watching movies in Beijing’s first and oldest cinema.