Chaoyangmen Outer Street

Chaoyangmen Outer Street (simplified Chinese: 朝阳门外大街; traditional Chinese: 朝陽門外大街; pinyin: Cháoyángmén Wài Dàjiē) is a major through route in Beijing, China, and runs through the Chaowai area near Chaoyangmen.[1] Geographically, it is in the eastern urban area, and is still considered very close to the city centre even though it lies outside the 2nd Ring Road.[2] It is north of a similarly significant area, the future Beijing CBD.[3]

Chaoyangmen Outer Street
Chaoyangmen Outer Street in 2003. To the left the China Life Tower and right the Guangyao Apartment Tower.
LocationBeijing, China
One Beijing few remaining archways, on Chaoyangmen Outer Street and Shenlu Street.

Chaoyangmen Outer Street runs from Chaoyangmen Bridge through to the massive Dongdaqiao crossing. In its path lie office blocks, shopping areas, and technology stores (including the Bainaohui area), making it one of the busiest streets in Beijing. Unsurprisingly, traffic is often congested, especially near the nodal points Chaoyangmen and Dongdaqiao.

History

Chaoyangmen was originally called "Qihuamen". Chaoyangmenwai Street is the road to the Qiyangmen Gate during the Yuan Dynasty, the Chaoyangmen Guanxiang area during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China. During the Qing Dynasty the road was paved. In 1942 the road was repaved. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the asphalt pavement was widened and refurbished in 1953. In 1988, a large-scale expansion and reconstruction was carried out. In 1990 the street was extended eastward to the East Third Ring Road and was connected to Chaoyang Road.[1]

During the years, many temples were built along Chaoyangmenwai Street, among them the Tianxian Temple (built during the Ming Dynasty, destroyed), Jiutian Puhua Palace (built 1647 during the Qing Dynasty),[4] Dongyue Temple (built in the Yuan Dynasty), Ci Zun Temple (destroyed). Dongyue Temple is located in the central section of Chaoyangmenwai Street. In the 1950s, the east and west arches on Chaoyangmenwai Street were demolished. Since the 1950s, Dongyue Temple was occupied by a unit of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. In 1988, the gates facing Chaoyangmenwai Street were dismantled, thus making the bell tower, the drum tower and the two doors directly facing each other. After renovation in 1998, it was opened as a Beijing Folk Museum. In 2008, Dongyue Temple was restored as a place of religious activity. Since then, it has dual functions of museum and Taoist temple.[1]

Office buildings and retail along Chaoyangmen Outer Street received a major boost in 1996 when China opened its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on this arterial.[5] Other high rises that were built along Chaoyangmen Outer Street include: China Life Tower, Chaoyangmenwai Soho, Guangyao Apartment Tower, Guoan Mansion, Jingguang Centre, and the World Financial Center. Beijing's new CBD is developing to the south of Chaoyangmenwai Street.

Attractions
  • The famous Beijing Dongyue Temple (built and developed 1319 and onwards) is located along Chaoyangmen Outer Street.[6][7] It is a national cultural spot of China and hosts the Beijing Folk Customs Museum.
  • Pfidang or Memorial archway, a glazed tile archway opposite Dongyue Temple's Sun Gate, on the south side of Chaoyangmen Outer Street and at the entrance of Shenlu Street.[8][9]

References
  1. 北京地名典 [Beijing Place Name Code]. 中国文联出版社 [China Federation of Literary and Art Publishing House]. 2008. p. 444.
  2. Johnson, Ian (5 April 2015). "China's memory manipulators". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 August 2018. In the capital, for example, the Foreign Ministry is located on Chaoyangmenwai, or the Street Outside the Chaoyang Gate. Just a few hundred metres west, the street changes name to Chaoyangmennei, or the Street Inside the Chaoyang Gate. In between is the Second Ring Road. The streets' names only make sense if you realise that the ring road was built on the site of the city walls, which had a passageway right there, Chaoyangmen, the Chaoyang Gate. The wall has become a highway and the gate an interchange. Nothing beyond the street names exists in the neighbourhood to remind you of either spectral structure.
  3. "Chaowai Men, Tower A". Chaowai MEN is located at the Chaoyangmen Outer, only 200 meters south to the Chaoyangmen road. Adjacent to Chaoyang Government and CBD area, connected to Prime Tower, Full Link Plaza. A complex within retail, office and residential apartment.
  4. McCrohan, Daniel; Eimer, David (2015). Beijing. Lonely Planet – via Google Books. rather lonely Jiutian Puhua Gong, a small temple hall which is the only remaining structure of two other Taoist temples that once also stood in this area. Built in 1647, the hall, which we think is now empty, once contained more than 70 clay and wooden statues dedicated to Leizu, Taoism's God of Thunder.
  5. Holslag, Jonathan (2015). "Briefcase Revisionism". China's Coming War with Asia. John Wiley & Sons. p. 78 – via Google Books. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened its new building at Chaoyangmen Outer Street in 1996 and would soon be surrounded by the posh office buildings of oil companies, banks, and trading companies.
  6. "Dongyue Miao". Insight Guides City Guide Beijing. Insight Guides. Apa Publications. 2017. p. 253 – via Google Books. Further north, on the other side of Chaoyangmenwai Dajie, Dongyue Miao [map] (Temple of the God of Tai Mountain;东岳庙) is one of the few Daoist temples in the city. It was built to honour the highest celestial ruler of the Tai mountain, one of the five Daoist holy mountains in China.
  7. Lewis, Simon (2004). "Chaoyangmenwai Dajie and Sanlitun". The Rough Guide to Beijing (2 ed.). Rough Guides. p. 79 – via Google Books. Back to East of the centre Chaoyangmenwai Dajie and Sanlitun North of Jianguomenwai Dajie, the Dongyue Temple (Tues–Sun 8am–5pm; ¥10), a short walk from Ritan Park or Chaoyangmen subway stop, is an intriguing place, in pointed contrast to all the shrines to materialism outside.
  8. Harper, Damian; Eimer, David (2010). "Dongyue Temple". Beijing City Guide. Lonely Planet. p. 109 – via Internet Archive. Note the temple's fabulous pdifang (memorial archway) lying to the south, divorced from its shrine by the intervention of Chaoyangmenwai Dajie.
  9. China.org.cn. "Memorial Archways". Beijing: A Guide to China's Capital City. China Internet Information Center. Outside the city near the Chaoyangmen (Facing the Sun) Gate, a glazed tile archway with three openings and seven roofs still stands, while on the made of wood.
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