Guijie (Ghost Street) is the name that Beijingers call a restaurant street in Dongzhimen, Dongcheng District. It starts from the west end of Dongzhimen overpass on the Second Ring Road in the east and ends at the east end of Jiaodaokou East Street in the west. There are many embassies around, which has created the unique geographical advantage of Guijie. Every year, the profits created by foreign guests alone for Guijie Street are as high as 35 million yuan. On this 1442-meter-long Dongnei Street, there are more than 50 commercial shops/kloc-0, of which 148 are catering services, accounting for more than 90% of all shops in Dongnei Street. The density of restaurants is so high that I'm afraid there will never be another one in Beijing.
The origin of the name of Ghost Street: At present, there are many different versions, but all of them are groundless or hearsay, and the real statement can only be explained by the original indigenous residents of Dongzhimen; In the Qing dynasty, every gate in Beijing had a special purpose and was not allowed to be used at will. Just as the imperial court sent troops to Deshengmen, retired troops to Yongdingmen, and executed criminals to Xuanwu Gate, Dongzhimen was only used as a gateway to transport timber into the city and the dead outside the city. Those 50-year-old aborigines on the edge of the city still clearly remember the scenes when they were young, and they went to the tower to play together. Standing on the tower, they saw that the city was a city. Because the city gate at that time was the junction of urban and rural areas, the initial morning market naturally formed at the city gate. Those vendors, who are mainly engaged in selling groceries, vegetables and fruits, open their markets after midnight and disperse at dawn. The stall owners used kerosene lamps to get the light, and the lights in the distance seemed to be falling. Together with the coffin shops and bars adjacent to the whole street, it was named "Ghost Town". Coincidentally, many merchants and shops on both sides of Dongzhimen Street have done a lot of various businesses since the market tide, but none of them can do it well. Even the only state-owned department store (the former site of Jindingxuan) was going to close down, but it was later discovered that only restaurants could do well in this street. The restaurants here were almost deserted during the day, but at night it was full of people and a scene of prosperity. As for whether it is like the local old man said, ghosts will go to town for dinner at night, forming such prosperity, and no one can say clearly.
Due to the formation of the hot market, Ghost Street has become a household name in Beijing. Of course, many people also see the huge business opportunities here. Even the local government changed from initial exclusion to later support. The District Commercial Committee also named it "Dongnei Catering Street". But; After all, the ghost word is indecent, so the executives of Dongcheng District Committee are thinking hard about renaming Ghost Street, but the bosses don't buy it, because they are afraid that renaming will ruin Feng Shui, so it is appropriate to say so; Unexpectedly, someone found the word "Gui" with different sounds and words in the dictionary, and it was also related to eating, so they began to publicize and made a big bronze statue of "Gui" at the bridge head on the ghost street side of Dongzhimen overpass, so there was this civilized "Gui Street".