Chang'an Avenue

Chang'an Avenue (simplified Chinese: 长安街; traditional Chinese: 長安街; pinyin: Cháng'ān Jiē), literally "Eternal Peace Street", is a major thoroughfare in Beijing, China.

Chang'an (simplified Chinese: 长安; traditional Chinese: 長安; pinyin: Cháng'ān) is also the old name for Xi'an which was the capital of China during the Western Han dynasty, the Tang dynasty and other periods. The Avenue has also been referred to as the Shili Changjie (simplified Chinese: 十里长街; traditional Chinese: 十里長街; pinyin: Shílǐ Chǎngjiē), meaning the Ten Li Long Street, China's No. 1 Avenue and No. 1 Avenue of the Divine Land.^[1][2] "Chang'an Avenue" is often used as a synecdoche for the government in Beijing, akin to using "the Beltway" to refer to the American federal government.^[3]

Chang'an Avenue starts from Dongdan in the east and ends at Xidan in the west. Tiananmen and Tiananmen Square are located at the north and south of the center of the Avenue, respectively. The Avenue consists of two parts, West Chang'an Avenue and East Chang'an Avenue. The extension line extends east–west with Tiananmen Square as the center, extends westward to Shougang area, Yongding River and Western Hills, and extends eastward to Beijing City Sub-center, Grand Canal and Chaobai River.^[4] The core area of Chang'an Avenue and its extension is between Guomao Bridge of East Third Ring Road and Xinxing Bridge of West Third Ring Road (including Tiananmen area).^[4]