Yandaixie Street is located in the front of the Drum Tower in Beijing Di'anmenwai Avenue, north of the Qianhai Lake in Shichahai area. It has a total length of about 232 meters and a width of 5-6 meters. It is Beijing's oldest commercial street which has numerous hotels, inns and other foreign trade stores. Yandaixie Street was built in the Yuan Dynasty. Until the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to the late 1920s or 1930s, the street mainly operated smoking sets like drought tobacco pouch, hookah, etc. antiques, paintings, Frame and Mounting, stationery and snacks, service industries, etc. The architectural style here is simple along with characteristics of the northern part of the Beijing city. It is a famous cultural street in the north city of Beijing, where left many cultural celebrities' footprint.
Speaking of the origin of its name "Yandaixie Street", it was said that during ancient times, the people living in the northern part of the city were fond of smoke, they often put the tobacco in a tobacco pouch. As the increasing demand of the tobacco pouches, the street appeared numerous stores selling tobacco pouches. In addition, the street itself just looks like a tobacco pouch. This slender and diagonal street just looks like a smoking bar next to Houhai, in the north of Di'anmen, in front of the Drum Tower. Based on this two reasons, to name the street "Yandaixie Street" is veritable.
Yandaixie Street was the 2nd street to be named " as "China's historical and cultural street" by the Ministry of Culture, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on November 10, 2010 following Beijing Imperial College Street in the Andingmen of Dongcheng District. Experts believed that the fact of Yandaixie Street selected "China's historical and cultural street " thanks to its not changed alley texture and basic architectural style, its inheritance of local people's life, its good protection work of rich historical and cultural information.