一幅罕见的1973年长安街地图启发了我们，将这条首都最气势恢宏的大街化作一条围巾。

A rarely seen map of the Chang'an Avenue from 1973 inspired us to make a scarf out of the most commanding stretch of the capital. 

如今一条又一条环路围绕着北京市中心，唯有长安街笔直延伸四十公里，就从毛主席像的正下方贯穿首都心脏地带。

Ring road upon ring road encircles the center of Beijing, but only one street penetrates them all. The Chang'an Avenue runs 40 Kilometer straight through the heart of the capital, just under the nose of the portrait of Mao. 

它随着民国的诞生而出现，经日本人大幅扩展，最终在1949年后逐渐变成今天的模样。

在封建社会，长安街这样的道路是不可想象的。老北京由巨大的城墙界定，很多措施都旨在把人员流动限制在城墙内。但1912年末代皇帝退位后，城市规划焕发出全新活力。快速移动的能力开始驱动着城市发展。

It emerged with the Republic, was widely expanded by the Japanese, and was finally stretched into its present shape after 1949.

最早将长安街向城墙外延伸的是日本侵略者。1930年代末，他们计划在老城西侧打造行政中心，在东侧建立工业基地，为此在城墙上开了两个洞，就是如今的建国门和复兴门。

1949年新中国成立后，长安街进一步拓宽，成为举行庆祝游行的地方。社会各阶层的代表们在长安街列队行进，中国领导人则在天安门城楼观礼。如同项链上的珍珠，北京最重要的建筑，如人民大会堂、中南海、天安门和国际贸易中心等，如今都由这条大道串联起来。

During the dynasties a road like the Changan avenue was unthinkable. Beijing was defined by a massive city wall, and everything was done to restrict movement within the walls. But when the last emperor abdicated in 1912, a whole new dynamic was applied to city planning. The ability to move fast was now driving development. 

The Japanese occupiers were the first to expand the Chang'an Avenue beyond the wall. In late 1930s, they dug out gate openings to create a new modern bureaucratic center in the west and an industrial center in the east. We know these former gates today as Jianguomen and Fuxingmen.

When China was liberated in 1949, the Chang'an Avenue was further expanded and made into a parade ground. The Tiananmen Gate became a rostrum from which the leaders of china would observe representatives of all society classes walk by in formation.

Like pearls on a necklace, all of Beijing's most important pieces of architecture - like the Great Hall of the People, Zhongnanhai, Tiananmen, and the World Trade Center - are today connected by the Avenue.