Liulichang is a famous cultural commercial street in Xuanwu District,Beijing, that is famous for selling paintings, calligraphies and antiques. In the Liao Dynasty(907-1125), the place here was suburbs of Beijing and Liulichang was a small village called Haiwang village. In the Yuan dynasty(1206-1368), because of construction of the imperial palaces, the government set up a kiln here in order to produce colored glazed tiles. Colored glazed tiles were called Liuli in Chinese, so the place was named Liulichang. which means a factory porducing colored glazed titles. At that time the five-colored glazed titles produced here were not only used to decorate the imperial palaces, but also welcomed by constructors of temples and royal mansions. So the place of Liulichang becam e prestigious and the glazed tiles business was booming.
However, in the Qing dynasty, the business gradually declined. And at the end of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the imperial court held lantern festival of inner-city here. With the city’s carnival here, the place thrived again. During the holidays, it was bustling and filled with people here.
In addition, the codification of two books serve well for the prosperity of Liulichang. One is Ancient and modern books Integration in Kangxi’s regin(1661-1722), which is called Kangxi Da Dian in Chinese. The other is Imperial Collection of Four Categories in Qianlong’s reign(1735-1796), which is named Siku Quanshu in Chinese. The compilation of these two books made a large number of bachelors from all over the country gathered in the capital. They all lived in their assembly halls respectively outside the Front Gate where is not far away from Liulichang. So Liulichang became the best place to exchange ideas and books. And most of the officers in charge of the work lived in south Beijing, where Liulichang was located. So they thought it was also a perfect place to discuss their research and learn from each other. Astute book dealers are also aware of these two advantages and start to do their business here and gradually they enlarged their book business to anti ques, the four stationery treasures, scroll paintings and calligraphy. Finally Liulichang turned into a cultural street.
In 1982 the street was renovated, and some parts of the street were reconstructed according to the original architectural style. The street is 750 meters long and extends east to Yanshousi Street and west to Nanbeiliu Alley, with South Xinhua Street in the middle. The crossing of South Xinhua Street and Liulichang Street divides the street into two sections. The stores in the eastern section mainly deal in the business of antiques, while the stores in the western section mainly do ancient book business.
Walking along the street, you would get the feeling like walking in an ancient market with brick pavements in the street, gray tiles on the roof, brick carving and antique paintings on the edge of the roof. There are so many ancient stores with sound with sound brands along the street. For example, Rongbaozhai Scroll Painting and Calligraphy Store, Baowentang Bookstore, Chizhenzhai Porcelain Store, Ancient-melody Cloisonne Store, and some famous ancient stores for stationery treasures, such as Daiyuexuan Huzhou Brush and Anhui Chinese-Ink Store. The four stores represent four most famous places in China that produce stationeries of the best quality. They are Huzhou ChineseBush, Anhui Chinese Ink, Xuan Paper and Duan Inkstone.
Liulichang is a place really worth going because you can experience the life of ancient Chinese intellectuals. The four stationeries, the ancient books the scroll paintings and calligraphy all give you a strong taste of Chinese tradition.
---------------------------------------------------------------Author: AmoyTrip.com--Liulichang Street
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com
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