Beijing - Former Diplomats Quarter

East of Tian'anmen Square a few important witnesses to the imperialist era remain along Dongjiaomin Niang Street (formerly Legation Street), Zhengyi Lu (formerly Rue Meiji) and Taijichang Jie roads (formerly Rue Marco Polo). When in the Second Opium War England and France had won the right to establish permanent embassies in Beijing, this was the area where the first diplomats' quarter of the capital appeared. The original buildings, however, were destroyed in the year 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion. Afterwards the quarter was almost completely rebuilt.

The Chinese were not allowed to live here, and Chinese policemen were not admitted. In its center is the French cathedral St Michel with its two towers built in the neogothic style. To the north of it the house of the former Peking Club remains intact; opposite to the south the buildings of Belgian Embassy still stand, the only one to have preserved its original appearance. On the north side of westbound Legation Street is a gate which belonged to the French Embassy; west of it is the old post office of the quarter. The old building at the corner of Zhengyi Lu was built as a branch of the Yokohama Species Bank. Along Zhengyi Lu one can still see the gate that once belonged to the Japanese Embassy - Beijing Town Hall now stands in these grounds - as well as buildings of the British Embassy, built in the Chinese style. Further west along Dongjiaomin Xiang, opposite the new building of the Supreme Court, are old bank buildings as well as the former French hospital on the right beyond the next crossroads.