Why Ghost Street Isn’t Really Ghost Street: A Brief History
Stretching a total of 1,422 meters all the way from Beixinqiao Station across to Dongzhimen Station this popular food street seems to have very little to do with ghosts. However, despite this Gui Jie is commonly referred to by both foreigners and locals alike as Ghost Street. But in reality, the modern day name for Gui Jie doesn’t actually have anything to do with ghosts. So where did the name Ghost Street come from?
The start of Guijie, just down from Dongzhimen Overpass
It is true that up until the 1980s this famous snack street was called Ghost Street in Chinese, made up of the character 鬼 guǐ meaning “ghost” or “spirit” and 街 jiē meaning street. However, to try and give the street a revamp and enhance the growing food culture of the street the Commerce Commission changed the name in the 1980s to 簋街 guǐ jiē.
The 簋 guǐ of Guijie now actually relates to food, not ghosts
簋 guǐ is a homonym of 鬼 guǐ and is an ancient bronze food container that was used during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE) as a rice container. You can actually see a large sculpture of a gui on the Dongzhimen end of Gui Jie.
A giant 簋 guǐ sculpture marks the beginning of the street on the Dongzhimen side
Now that explains why Ghost Street isn’t technically Gui Jie’s name anymore, but doesn't explain where the name Ghost Street actually comes from. Interestingly, there are actually two different stories behind where the name comes from…
The first story is that the name derives from the how, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), vendors around the Dongzhimen gate area would begin selling groceries, vegetables, and fruit at midnight, finishing around early dawn. The dim light from their oil lamps and red lanterns would create a ghostly effect earning the name “Ghost Street” from locals.
Today's lit up restaurants are a far cry from the oil lantern lit stalls of before
The other story links the name to the fact that during the same dynasty, the gate at Dongzhimen was used for the transportation of corpses to the outskirts of Beijing for burial which led to numerous coffin stores opening up on the street. The undertones of death combined with the eerie atmosphere created by oil lamps at the time is said to have then brought about the name Ghost Street.
Once home to coffin shops, almost all the buildings are now home to restaurants
Nowadays the street boasts over 100 restaurants, many of which are open 24 hours a day, Gui Jie certainly hasn’t had a ghostly atmosphere at all. However, that is until recent times with the ban on in-house dining transforming the usually bustling street into more of a ghost town.
Although restaurants are back open Gui Jie still seems rather on the quiet side, lacking the usual huge evening crowds perched on plastic stools as they wait for a seat outside one of Gui Jie’s signature crayfish restaurants.
One of Guijie's most popular crayfish restaurants is markedly quieter than normal
For those who are big fans of this sprawling food street, one can but hope that Ghost Street will be back to normal soon and won’t return to its former ghostly origins.
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Images: Uni You
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