By Yan Shuang

Wangfujing Commercial Street may be extended, spreading its glamour south to Qinian Dajie.

According to a Beijing Times report, the proposal to extend Wangfujing was put forward during the Party Congress of the new Dongcheng district on Saturday. The report said the government revealed at the meeting that they were working on the overall district development plan for the next 20 years, which included the plan to extend Wangfujing.

Wangfujing Commercial Street stretches for about 1,500 meters, from East Chang'an Avenue in the south to the National Art Museum in the north. If extended to Qinian Dajie, the street would be over 3,000 meters long, the report said.

Between Wangfujing Street and Qinian Dajie is Taijichang Dajie, which is almost half the width of Wangfujing Street and is the location of most of Beijing's governmental authorities, such as the Beijing Party Committee of the CPC.

"Taijichang Dajie is narrow, and it has history," said a resident living at Qinian Dajie who refused to give his name. "If they are going to connect Wangfujing and Qinian Dajie together, they may have to widen the latter. I'm worried that the widening may lead to demolition of the buildings on that street. Some of them have more than 100 years of history, and it would be such a pity to tear them down," he said.

However, others see potential. Wang Yan, who runs the Yuzhang Chinese Knot Shop at Taijichang Dajie, told the Global Times, "When we opened here in 2000, we had really good sales, but now business is harder. I read about the extension in the news and I think it will bring us more customers."

Yang Fahang, director of the Dongcheng district media department, told the Global Times, "It's just a plan, and we haven't worked out any details. We don't know for now when and how the extension will be carried out yet.