The embassy quarter is a district of the city of Beijing , where between 1861 and 1959 a large number of foreign missions were located. In China , the area is known as “Dong Jiaoming Xiang” (东交民巷) - the name of the Hutong located there. It is located directly east of Tiananmen Square .
Content
Background
Under the Yuan Dynasty , the street was named Dong Jiangmi Xiang ("East River Rice Lane"). This was the area of tax and customs offices, as it was close to the river port, where rice and grain arrived in Beijing from the south. Under the Ming Dynasty , some of the "six departments" moved to this area, including the Ritual Office, which resolved diplomatic issues.
Embassy Quarter
After the defeat of China in the war of 1856-1860 , a special department, Zongliyamen , was created to conduct business with the European powers (who did not want to perform the humiliating rituals traditionally required by the Chinese court from the "barbarians").
Initially, foreign missions were deployed randomly near the government departments of the Qing Dynasty in the southern part of the old Inner City, west of Tiananmen Square . During the boxing uprising in 1900, the embassy quarter became the center of international events, as it was besieged by boxer rebels for several months . After the forces of the Alliance of the Eight Powers , breaking through to Beijing, lifted the siege , the European powers, in accordance with the terms of the " Final Protocol ", received the right to keep armed forces in Beijing to protect their diplomatic missions.
One of the conditions of the “Final Protocol” was a change in the name of the street on which foreign embassies were located to “Ambassadorial Street”. For the sake of fulfilling this condition, other characters were chosen to record the name of the street so that the name sounded like the original, but the meaning would be close to "Ambassadorial Street". Most Chinese government agencies relocated their residences to other places.
In 1937, at the time of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war , most of the foreign embassies, except for the embassies of the Axis countries, were no longer in Beijing , so the government of the Republic of China officially restored its jurisdiction over the Embassy quarter.
In China
At the time of the creation of the People’s Republic of China (1949), a number of foreign embassies were still in the Embassy quarter here, but after 1959, foreign missions were moved to Sanlitun , outside the old city walls.
However, the area suffered greatly during the outrages of the cultural revolution . Mass construction and reconstruction, which began in Beijing after 1980, also damaged the area. Some buildings (such as the former HSBC building) were demolished to widen the road. Some buildings were occupied by government agencies. A number of modern high-rise buildings have also been built in the area. Nevertheless, the area attracts tourists as the most significant collection of Western-style buildings in Beijing , and is therefore guarded by local authorities.
Notes
- ↑ Dongjiaomin Catholic Church (Unavailable link) . Date of treatment May 19, 2010. Archived July 22, 2011.
- ↑ Dongjiaomin Alley Catholic Church
Literature
- Moser, Michael J., and Yeone Wei-chih Moser. Foreigners within the Gates: The Legations at Peking. Hong Kong, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.