Quanyechang

Quanyechang (劝业场) stands at the junction of Binjiang Road and Heping Road in Heping District, and it was built with money raised by the comprador Gao Xingqiao and designed by the French architect Paul Muller of the Yonghe firm. The department store opened on 12 December 1928 at the crossing of the French concession's Consul General Road and Fuxu General Road, and became the largest and most complete department store in North China. The French concession authorities proposed calling it the French Emporium, but it was finally named Quanyechang on the advice of the shareholder Prince Zaizhen. By the 1930s it had replaced Guyi Street as the city's commercial hub, and the name spread from the building to the district around it.