Dongsi Hutong

Dongsi Hutong

Dongsi street, called Shizi street in Yuan Dynasty, is a very prosperous commercial street. During the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, four archways were built at the intersection of Dongsi street, namely, the East, West, South and North archways. This is the well-known "Dongsi archway", from which the name of Dongsi came. The four archways are of four columns and three floors. The East archway is inscribed with "Lu Ren", the West archway is inscribed with "Xing Yi", and the north and South archways are inscribed with "Dashi Street".

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Historical and cultural background

The four archways were demolished in 1954. Although the archway is no longer there, the place name of Dongsi is still in use today. Besides the south, North and west streets, there are also Dongsi Toutiao to shitiao hutongs named after Dongsi.

Among them, three to eight hutongs were formed in the Yuan Dynasty, and the streets and alleys were built in strict accordance with the regulations of 24 steps for main streets and 12 steps for small alleys. The hutongs in the block are arranged in order, and the layout of siheyuan is regular, showing a complete "fishbone" type of Hutong texture. At that time, Marco Polo, a westerner, praised the streets and alleys of Dadu in Yuan Dynasty. He described them as follows: "there are beautiful roads all around, pedestrians come and go from here, the ground planning of the whole city is like a chessboard, and its beauty and goodness are beyond declaration.".

Fortunately, these hutongs have experienced seven hundred years of changes, and the pattern has not changed. On both sides of the streets and alleys are old gatehouses and old shops. Walking in the streets and alleys is like walking through a time tunnel, back to the ancient times. Dongsi area not only has a long history of architecture, but also has a profound historical and cultural heritage. There were not only the extravagant life of the royal family, but also the brilliant and prosperous footprints of the literati and generals, the elegant and scholarly style of the literati, the ups and downs of the modern warlords and generals, and the pride of the wealthy merchants.

Address: Dongsi North Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing

Longitude: 116.417183

Latitude: 39.9326455

Chinese PinYin : Dong Si Hu Tong