Xijiao Minxiang was an essential part of ‘old Beijing Commercial Street’, and still maintains some traces of the past glory. The way the building style changes make you feel like walking along a tunnel of time.

Compared with the crowded Tiananmen Square andQianmen Street, Xijiao Minxiang is barely remembered and visited by traveler.

Entering Xijiao Minxiang from Beixinhuajie, you will first notice two rows of Chinese traditional window shields lined both sides of the street. There are few people on the street until you walk deep to the Yangmao hutong, where along with Qianxiwachang hutong and Bingbuwa hutong loomed the busy figures of local residents. Not until the cars parking or running along the street keeping appearing in your view, you don’t realize this place is located at the urban core.

Many tourists are attracted here for the lane’s reputation as the ‘Old Beijing Commercial Street’, however, as you walk eastward till reaching rendahuitang West Road, you will come across none buildings and marks indicating banking or financing except one or two obscure buildings of modern style which scatter amidst the siheyuans. It’s no wonder that people would get the impression of going the wrong way, especially when they reach the crossing of rendahuitang West Road and Xijiao Minxiang. The National Centre of Performing Art is standing there to promise the north end of the lane.

Continuing walking eastward across the road, you will reach the core area of the ‘commercial street’ which is lined up with historical architectures of different styles. A marble engraved ‘西交民巷近代银行建筑群’ lies by the street, and follow the sign you can trace the former sites of the Exchange Bank of China (Beijing Branch), the Central Bank of China, the Head Office of China Agricultural & Industrial Bank, the Commercial Guarantee Bank of China, and the Continental Bank.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Xijiao Minxiang was home to several yamens (government office in feudal China) such as the Xing Department (Ministry of Penalty), the Dalisi (Grand Court), the Duchayuan (Censorate), the Taichangsi (Monastery of Rituals), and the Luanyiwei (Guard of Honor). Then over ten banks was opened here during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China (1912-1949), makingthe placea commercial street worthy of the name.

These buildings are unavailable to visitors except the former site of the Commercial Guarantee Bank of China which is the current China Numismatic Museum. Nonetheless, you can appreciate the facades of the buildings, among which the most impressive is the former site of the Continental Bank. With large granites as the foundation, the cornice protrudes from the second storey while the arched doors on the third floor are embedded with Ancient Romanian style columns and supported by Corinthian pilasters. The roof is fitted with rounded synchronized clocks which make the western style building even grander.

The former site of the Central Bank of China is much smaller and more delicate, and from the western style arch veranda, you can see a spot of the architectural style in modern Shanghai.