What was Xidan like twenty or thirty years ago? Baihua Market, Xiangfei Roast Chicken, Xidan Wedding Gift Store, National World... Do you still have an impression? Yesterday, the 40th anniversary exhibition of Xidan Commercial District reform and opening up kicked off. A distribution map of Xidan commercial outlets drawn in the early 1990s seemed to allow visitors to travel through the past one after another. More than 90% of the hundreds of commercial outlets marked in the picture no longer exist. Instead, it is replaced by the well-known new landmarks of Xidan Commercial District, such as Hanguang Department Store, Joy City, and Lafayette.
Xidan commercial outlet distribution map drawn in the early 1990s is a witness to the prosperity of Xidan's business.
exhibition is located in the Xidan Commercial Museum on the fifth floor of Xidan Shopping Mall. It mainly displays exhibition boards with rich text and pictures. collected hundreds of pictures and precious documents and materials from multiple departments such as the Xicheng District Archives Bureau, which clearly and intuitively demonstrated the development and changes of Xidan's business since the reform and opening up.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, represented by Xidan Night Market, individual merchants spontaneously gathered in the Xidan area, and Xidan business gradually flourished. On this commercial map roughly drawn in the early 1990s, there are stores next to each other on the east and west sides of the Xidan North Street, which are quite dense. There were also many non-staple food shops, grain shops, etc. in the streets and alleys adjacent to the streets. At that time, the prosperity of Xidan's business was obvious.
From the picture to the north, the northwest corner of Xidan Road intersection is Xidan Wedding Gift Store. In the 1980s, this store was popular as compared to the current "Internet celebrity store". "After getting the marriage certificate, you have to go here for the second stop. The bed sheets, quilt covers, hot pots, enamel cups, and washbasins printed with the big red wedding letters are sold here." The cultural volunteers in charge of the explanation introduced that since then, many wedding supplies stores appeared in Xidan, and later there was a special wedding building at No. 109 Xidan North Street, which was inseparable from the "foundation" of this store.
The west side of Xidan North Street is Xidan vegetable market, which ranked first among the four major vegetable markets in Beijing in the 1980s. Old Beijingers are familiar with it. The original site of the vegetable market is now the modern Juntai Department Store. The Gongyi Food Store next to the vegetable market in used to sell an ice cream called "King of Chestnuts" and the price was very expensive. Its status in the cold drink circle is the same as the current Haagen-Dazs ice cream . Further north is Xidan Bicycle Wholesale and Retail Store, which was also well-known back then. Beijingers go here to buy famous bicycles...
on the east side of Xidan North Street, the most eye-catching thing in the picture is Baihua Market. The market of has been completed in three phases since 1988, with a business area of more than 10,000 square meters. As a market that mainly sells daily necessities, clothing, shoes and hats, "Baihua" was once a generation of "landmarks" in Xidan Commercial District. It is connected with the national world and the special shoe city that have been developed one after another, and has become the earliest place where one hundred thousand households were born in Beijing.
In this picture, except for a few stores such as Xidan Shopping Mall, which are still open today, more than 90% of commercial outlets, such as photography equipment stores, electronic instrument business departments, snack departments, guesthouses, grain stores, gas stations, etc., have disappeared into the long river of history with the change of the times.
With the acceleration of reform and opening up, Xidan's business structure is also constantly upgrading. In the explanation, the volunteers introduced that since the late 1990s, Xidan's collective trade markets have been closed one by one. On the original site of the small shop after the shutdown, modern malls have emerged: in 1998, Xidan Book Building was completed and opened; in 1999, Xidan Cultural Plaza was completed; in the same year, Zhongyou Department Store (now Hanguang Department Store) was completed and opened on the original Baihua Market address. Juntai Department Store, Xidan Joy City , Galeries Lafayette Department Store (Xidan Store) are blooming everywhere... The interactive area set up by the exhibition recreates the sales counters of the 1980s, attracting visitors to experience and take photos. Photo by our reporter Wu Yibin
exhibition displays a batch of comparative photos of different eras in Xidan area, from the small markets in the 1990s to the current major shopping malls full of brilliance and visual impact.The exhibition is jointly organized by the Xicheng District Commerce Committee, the Xicheng District Archives Bureau, and the Xichang'an Street Office. It will last for one month and the public can visit it for free.
Source: Beijing Daily Reporter Wang Haiyan
Editor: RB008
