Qianmen Avenue, Beijing

Qianmen Avenue is a commercial street in Beijing, it extends from Moon Bay in the North to a platform street crossing in the South. During the Ming Dynasty it was called Zhengyangmen Avenue, but referred to in common parlance as Qianmen Avenue which literally means "Front Gate Avenue".

Infront of the Qianmen Avenue Grand Arc Entrance

Qianmen Avenue is both Old City Beijing's largest historical conservation zone and the only commercial block in the area around Tiananmen, it is perfectly aligned on the Beijing's central north-south axis along with the Tianmen and Forbidden City.Locals consider Qianmen Avenue as their Avenue des Champs-Elysees, also a prime tourist destination

Taken around 8:30 am, everything was still closed.

Since our hotel is literally behind these buildings, we only went around Qianmen Avenue only on our last day in Beijing, we passed by it every morning and every night on our way back to the hotel.  When we leave the hotel all the the establishments are still closed and when we get back most of them are closing, we decided to explore it on our last day.

Qianmen Avenue is directly in line with the Zhengyangmen

The place has undergone restoration five times, first in 1679,second was in 1900 almost 300 years later when the Avenue was burnt down when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing. The rise of commercial construction in the 1920's was the third restoration of Qianmen Avenue, followed by the 1970's restoration. The most recent restoration was done in May of 2007 in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Qianmen Avenue lights up at night

I think it is safe to say that our version of Qianmen Avenue here in the Philippines is the Bonifacio High Street, both places have a lot of similarities to name some; both comprises of restaurants and shops that are verging on too expensive hehe and both are constructed in one strip only.

Qianmen Avenue's stores get pretty busy at night.

During our last day in Beijing, I asked Qing if there are any good restaurants within our area. Qing answered as a matter of fact, there's this really famous Pecking Duck restaurant along Qianmen Avenue that we pass by everyday. I told him we should have our final dinner at a decent restaurant since all we have been having are "street food". I will make a separate entry for that dinner.

This Restaurant serves the best Pecking Duck in China - Qing

 After dinner Qing and I went on our separate ways since I didn't want to tag along while I buy souvenirs for everyone. The funny thing is a few minutes later i ended up bumping into him again, turns out we were both looking for the same things.

Hutongs of Souvenirs, really cheap and tradition chinese.

The Dang-dang trolley