Dongjiaomin Lane

Dongjiaomin lane is a Hutong in Dongcheng District of Beijing. It used to be a place for water transportation, so it was originally called Dongjiang min lane. It is the longest Lane in old Beijing with a total length of nearly 3 kilometers, starting from Tiananmen Square East Road in the West and ending at chongwenmennei street in the East. Dongjiaomin lane was the gathering place of foreign embassies in the late Qing Dynasty, so there are many western style houses along the street, and the buildings are in western style, and now basically keep their original appearance. Some of them have become the office places of state organs, such as Beijing Public Security Bureau, the Supreme People's court, the guest house of the Ministry of foreign affairs, etc. There are many plain clothes policemen in the street, and some places are forbidden to take photos.

Dongjiaomin Lane

Dongjiaomin lane is 1552 meters long, starting from Tiananmen Square East Road in the West and chongwenmennei street in the East. In modern times, it used to be a famous embassy area. After the second Opium War in 1860, Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, Belgium and other countries successively set up embassies in dongjiaomin lane and renamed it embassy street. After 1949, Dongjiaominxiang was still used as the embassy area. Until 1959, all the embassies moved to the Sanlitun area outside Chaoyang Gate. Dongjiaomin lane is a cultural relic protection block in Beijing. The western architecture on both sides of the road is still telling the past history to the past.

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The origin of place names

The lane starts from Tiananmen Square East Road in the West and ends at chongwenmennei street in the East, with a total length of nearly 1.6 km (including xijiaomin lane, a total of 3 km). It is the longest Lane in old Beijing. Dongjiaomin lane, the embassy district in old China, was a Hutong in Dongcheng District of Beijing. In old times, it was originally called Dongjiang Mi Lane because it was a water transport area.

In the Yuan Dynasty, dongjiaomin lane and xijiaomin Lane on the west side of the square were connected together. They were called jiangmi lane. At that time, the Hutong was controlled by the tax office and customs of the Yuan Dynasty, which made it the throat of grain transportation from the south to the north, so it was named jiangmi lane.

In Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a waterway outside the east wall of the imperial city. In 1292, Tonghui river was dug to connect the north and South Grand Canal. At that time, grain carriers were directly moored in the shipboard Hutong area outside the city. People unloaded grain and sold it on the spot, thus forming a grain trading street. People in the south are called nuomi, while people in the north are called jiangmi. As time goes on, people just call it jiangmi lane. Most of the names of Beijing Hutongs are very practical. You can see the meaning of the names. In the 18th year of Yongle, Zhu Di moved his capital to Beijing. Since then, jiangmi lane has become a long street in the city.

In the Ming Dynasty, the chessboard boundary was built to cut off the original jiangmi lane into dongjiangmi lane and xijiangmi lane. In Mixiang of Dongjiang, there are six Ministry of rites, Honglu temple and Huitong hall, but they only receive envoys from four vassal states, such as Annan, Mongolia, Korea and Myanmar. Therefore, Huitong hall is also called Siyi hall. In the Qing Dynasty, Huitong hall was renamed siyiguan, and the policy was revised to allow only foreign envoys to live here for 40 days.

After the defeat of China in the second Opium War in 1860, according to the relevant provisions of the Treaty of Tianjin signed by the Qing government with Britain, France, the United States and Russia, in March 1861, the British Minister officially moved into Prince Chunqin's residence in Mixiang, Dongjiang (which was called Liang's residence at that time, and was the residence of Prince Yichen, the seventh son of Emperor Daoguang), and the French Minister officially moved into Prince Anjun's residence (which was called chungong's residence at that time), It is the residence of Yuele, the grandson of Nurhachi; the American envoys are stationed in the private residence of Dr. swilliam, an American citizen, in MI lane of Dongjiang; the Russian envoys are stationed in the Russian pavilion of the orthodox church built here in the early Qing Dynasty.

Before the Boxer Movement in 1900, there were embassies of France, Japan, the United States, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries. After the Boxer Movement broke out, because of the concentration of foreigners, it was the focus of the attack. There was a nursery rhyme that said, "eat noodles without vinegar, artillery sishku; eat noodles without sauce, artillery Jiaomin lane." The former refers to the Xishiku church at the root of xihuangcheng in Beijing, while the latter refers to Dongjiaominxiang. After the Boxer Movement in 1900, according to the provisions of the Treaty of xinchou, the name of MI Lane in Dongjiang was changed to "embassy Street". In the map drawn by the Chinese side, it was officially renamed as "dongjiaomin lane", which became the embassy area managed by the embassies themselves. The Qing government only retained the official office, the household office, the ritual department and the zongrenfu in this street, and the rest moved out. Later, there were foreign banks such as HSBC Bank and Macquarie Bank in the UK, Russo China Dao Sheng Bank in Russia, Yokohama Zhengjin bank in Japan, Deutsche Bank in Germany, and French Oriental Bank. In addition, French post office, hospital and other facilities were opened, and a large number of Western-style buildings appeared. This embassy area has been preserved since the 1911 Revolution. After the outbreak of the Anti Japanese war in 1937, except Germany and Italy, other embassies were handed over to the national government.

Dongjiaomin lane is a quiet and ordinary street extending eastward from the south side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The western buildings stand side by side, and the branches of big locust trees are swaying. The wooden sign of "this place was designated as the patriotic education base in 1992" is hung on the gray wall of the street. At the turn of the century, Beijing formulated a plan to protect the historical features of dongjiaomin lane as a whole, warning the world not to forget national humiliation.

Historical changes

Jiangmi Lane

In the Yuan Dynasty, dongjiaomin lane and xijiaomin Lane on the west side of the square were connected together. They were called "jiangmi lane". At that time, the Hutong had the tax office and customs which controlled the transportation of grain to Beijing by water in the Yuan Dynasty, so it became the throat of grain transportation from south to north, so it was named jiangmi lane. In the Ming Dynasty, the chessboard boundary was built to cut off the original jiangmi lane into dongjiangmi lane and xijiangmi lane. In Mixiang of Dongjiang, there are the ritual department, Honglu temple and Huitong hall among the six departments, but they mainly receive envoys from Annan, Mongolia, Korea, Myanmar and other four vassal states, so Huitong hall is also called "Siyi hall". In the Qing Dynasty, Huitong hall was renamed siyiguan, and the policy was revised to allow only foreign envoys to live here for 40 days.

Embassy Street

Dongjiaominxiang used to be the location of "five prefectures and six departments" in Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty, there were "guest houses" for temporary residence of foreign envoys. After the Opium War (1840), British, Russian, German and French embassies were set up in this area. After 1901, they were changed into embassy street. Eleven countries, including Britain, the United States and France, set up joint administrative agencies in the alley. They also set up Citibank of the United States, remittence Bank of France, HSBC Bank of England, Zhengjin Bank of Japan, churches and hospitals Many western architectures of different styles have also attracted many overseas people.

Embassy circles

On August 14, 1900, the Allied forces of the eight powers invaded Beijing, which started the biggest catastrophe in the history of Beijing city. Dongjiaomin lane was also doomed. Three million taels of silver were robbed by the Japanese aggressors; the rare treasure of Dongjiao minxiangtai hospital, the bronze man of acupuncture and moxibustion, was robbed; the Yongle ceremony, Siku Quanshu and other rare books in Yuhexi Hanlin hospital were also destroyed. According to the Treaty of xinchou, the great powers classified dongjiaomin lane as "embassy boundary", renamed it "embassy Street", and built a 6-meter-high wall around the whole embassy boundary, on which eight blockhouses and iron gates were built.

In 1901, the Qing government was forced to sign the "Xin Chou treaty" with the foreign powers, and dongjiaomin Lane further fell into deep suffering. In the past, the powers occupied less than one twentieth of the total area of Dongjiao Minxiang, and the power of local administration still belonged to China. However, according to the xinchou treaty, the great powers swallowed up the whole Dongjiao Minxiang area, and the Chinese were not allowed to live or set up a Yamen. The administrative power was completely vested in the embassy, and the Chinese government had no right to intervene. They arbitrarily changed the names of the original streets in China, changing dongjiaomin lane to embassy street, Chang'an Street to Italian street, and taijichang Toutiao alley to Hede road The great powers also forced the Qing government to give garrison privileges. For a time, dongjiaomin Lane became the barracks of the great powers.

The revolution of 1911 broke out. The envoys of Dongjiaominxiang unanimously supported Yuan Shikai's stealing revolutionary fruits. In 1915, Yuan Shikai sent representatives to sign "21 articles" in a building of the Japanese Embassy, in order to find Japan's support for him to become emperor and further sell national interests.

After the end of the first World War, the Paris Peace Conference rejected the proposal that China, as the "Victor", demanded the recovery of Germany's interests in Shandong, the abolition of "Article 21" and other countries' aggressive interests in China. On May 4, 1919, more than 3000 students in Beijing gathered in Tiananmen Square to protest. After the meeting, the procession was filled with indignation and submitted a protest to the embassies of various countries in dongjiaomin lane.

In 1927, Chiang Kai Shek established the national government in Nanjing. After 1928, embassies of various countries moved to Nanjing one after another, but the former site of dongjiaomin lane was not abandoned.

On December 24, 1946, Pearson, an American soldier stationed in dongjiaomin lane, raped Shen Chong, a female student of Peking University. Despite the strong protest of the people all over the country, the KMT handed over the main culprit to the United States for self-treatment. When the culprit returned to the United States, he was acquitted.

On January 31, 1949, Beiping was peacefully liberated. Mao Zedong ordered that the people's Liberation Army (PLA) must pass through dongjiaomin lane before entering the city. The armed men of the Chinese people's Liberation Army (PLA) passed through dongjiaomin lane with their heads held high, washing away the humiliation that Chinese armed men were not allowed to enter dongjiaomin lane for 50 years.

On January 6, 1950,

Chinese PinYin : Dong Jiao Min Xiang