Xidan began to develop in the
Ming Dynasty as an area alongside the passage for traders from Southwestern China to enter Beijing. Restaurants and shops were eventually built for these merchants. Eventually, as the Western part of the city became the residential area for officials, Xidan became a commercial area. The location of several government agencies when Beijing was under the administration of the
Republic of China also helped Xidan's economic growth. The area began to experience massive growth in the 1950s, as the population of Beijing began to move westwards. By the 1970s, Xidan, along with
Qianmen and
Wangfujing, became the three major commercial areas in Beijing. Many malls and department stores have stores within the area, the oldest of which is the China branch of the Taiwanese department store
Chungyo. Xidan is also home to
Lingjing Alley, which, at 32m (34
yards), is considered to be the broadest
hutong in Beijing.
Xidan Wall Xidan Wall, also called Democracy Wall, is a long brick wall on Xidan Street. Erected in 1978, the event is generally recognized as the beginning of the
Beijing Spring. Xidan Wall played a significant role in the democracy movement in Beijing during the summer of 1979. It was at that time where the wall received a significant number of posters that criticized China's leaders. Even an award-winning
Canadian journalist
John Fraser put up his own "
dazibao," whose notice about a lost gold signet ring that concluded in vague political sentiment bizarrely resulted in his addressing the 1979 summer masses in
Tiananmen Square. However, by December 1979, Beijing's municipal government banned the posting of
wall posters on Xidan Wall in an attempt to curtail the democracy movement. ==Transportation==