Qianmen Avenue is the most ancient and famous business street which owns a long history of almost 500 years. It is located at south of Tiananmen Square, west of Qianmen dajie. Dashila is built in Ming Dynasty and became prosperous in Qing Dynasty.
The former name of Dashila is "Langfangsitiao". In order to prevent thieves, the government built many wooden fences at the entrance of the lanes in Ming Dynasty. Because the fence of "Langfangsitiao" is different from others and bigger than others, this Hutong is called "Dashilar" (Dashila means big fence in Chinese) from then. 
After three times reconstruction, Dashila is opened again on August 7, 2008 to welcome the Beijing Olympic Games. The new pedestrian street has a length of 840 meters from north end Qianmen Yueliangwan to south end Zhushikou. This street assembles all kinds of traditional specialty shops such as Qianmen Quanjuede Roast Duck Restaurant, Dabei Photo Studio, Zhangyiyuan Tea Shop, Tongrentang Drugstore, Ruifuxiang Silk Shop, Guangdelou Theater etc. The new street like streetlamp, rubbish cabin, the tablet is reconstructed in Ming and Qing construction style. The other thing attracting your attention is the Dangdangche, a kind of old-style tramcar.