It is a dream to travel to Beijing for many, who will not only fall in love with the wonderful scenery of the city, but the history of it, which will leave a distinctive impression on them in the end. Due to this reason, it is very necessary for you to visit some familiar sites where you can find something wonderful hidden from most tourists.

Legation Street (or Dongjiao Minxiang) is a serene hutong that stretches from the south of Tiananmen Square to the east. In this hutong short European style buildings are seen here and there, guarded by tall Chinese scholar trees. This was once the Embassy District and is the longest hutong in Beijing. This place has also recorded the invasions of China during the time between ancient China and modern China. Now you can enter this street and look for the legacies of history.

At the entrance and end of the alley there are two boards in total. On the boards the location and history of the street are recorded. Though the boards look shabby, the Chinese characters on them are still easy to read, “Legation Street is a famous neighborhood, located in the south of Dongcheng District, stretching from the east to the west. It begins at Chongwenmennei Street in the east and ends at the road east of Tiananmen Square in the west; it connects Dahua Road and Xinghua Road in the north and congregates with Taijichang Street and Zhengyi Road in the center. Being 1,552 meters long, it is now the longest hutong in Beijing…”

Legation Street is the neighbor ofQianmenCommercial Street, but looks pale compared with the bustling environment of Qianmen. It is so cold that all the tree leaves on the two sides of the street have fallen to the ground. Therefore, Legation Street is more like an old man, who slowly narrates the hardships that it has gone through.

According to documents, after the Second Opium War, adhering to relevant terms and conditions of the Treaty of Tientsin together signed by the Qing Empire and the UK, France, America and Russia, in March 1861, ambassadors of the UK officially entered Dongjiang Rice Alley (former name of the street) and stationed at Prince Chun’s Mansion; French ambassadors officially stationed at Prince An’s Mansion; ambassadors of the USA stationed at a private residence owned by an American citizen on the street; and Russian ambassadors stationed at Russian Hall in an Orthodox church. After that, ambassadors of these countries chose this area as their embassies. Before the Boxer Rebellion broke out in 1900, this area had been occupied by the embassies of France, Japan, America, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and other countries. After the Boxer Protocol was signed, Dongjiang Rice Alley changed its name to Legation Street. On the maps made by the Qing Empire, its name was officially changed to Legation Street and became an embassy district independently governed by these embassies. Apart from the Ministries of Personnel, Finance and Rites, and the Imperial Clan Court, other government offices of the Qing Empire were forced to evacuate out of this area. Later, the Briton’s HSBC, Russia’s CDG, Japan’s Yokohama Specie Bank, Germany’s Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, France’s Banque de I'IndoChine and other foreign banks opened, along with post offices, hospitals and other infrastructure.

Walking out of Chongwenmen Subway Station to Legation Street, you will never see a trace of the past embassies or post offices along the way. No. 19, the site where the French post office was once located has been transformed to a Sichuan cuisine restaurant at present; No. 20, the site where the embassy of Germany was once located has become today’s Capital Hotel; the site where the embassy of the UK was once located has become today’s Ministry of Public Security; the site where Citibank, N.A. was once located has become today’s Beijing Police Museum; the embassy of Netherlands has become Beijing Police Station, the site where the Russia’s embassy was once located has become No. 27 - 35 and the main building of today’s Supreme Court, and the embassy of Japan has become today’s Beijing Municipal Government. Walking to the end of the street and down the stone steps, you will surprisingly realize that Tiananmen is just in front of you. Instantly you have come back to reality from the century old past.

History has passed away, and this street is not the appearance it had once after reconstruction. The buildings at the end of the alley are still in construction. The European style buildings dotted among the tall buildings here are witnesses of the Chinese history, which gives alarms to the generations to come. One old man in the hutong says the past embassies have already been transformed into government office buildings, which are not open to the public. Today, many tourists who visit this area can only take photos of the remained old buildings there. However, the strong culture and historic meaning which settle there are still the great attraction of this area.