Former site of Belgian Embassy

Former site of Belgian Embassy

The former site of the Belgian embassy is located in the northeast corner of the intersection of taijichang and is now Zijin hotel. This village villa style building is the site of the Belgian embassy set up by Britain and France in Dongjiaominxiang area.

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brief introduction

The former site of the Belgian embassy was set up in 1866. The main building has three floors above the ground and one floor below the ground. The facade is made of brick with three imitation step gables and mountain flowers composed of pheasant dishes, which is in English Tudor Style.

There is a big pool in front of the main building, and the four residential buildings are symmetrically arranged in front of the main building.

The facade of the main building is made of stepped triangular flowers, which is built in imitation of European classical style. But the "stepped" gable on the Belgian embassy building is different. It has become a kind of artificial decoration. Driven by nostalgic fantasy factors, it expresses its attachment to the past prosperity with some imagination inspired by the old style.

Architectural features

Generally speaking, they all belong to the eclectic style popular in Europe and America at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Historical evolution

The origin of dongjiaomin Lane

Dongjiaominxiang was born at the end of the 13th century when Marco Polo visited China. At that time, the grain from the south of the Yangtze River was transported to Yuandadu via the Grand Canal and unloaded here. This lane was called jiangmi lane. Located in Dongcheng District of Beijing, it is an alley. 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 embassy area in old China.

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 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. The reason why people still yearn for Beijing's old hutongs is probably related to this. 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 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.

The birth of the Embassy

After China's defeat in the second Opium War in 1860, according to the relevant provisions of the Tianjin treaty signed by the Qing government with Britain, France, the United States and Russia, the British Minister officially moved into Prince Chunqin's residence in Mixiang, Dongjiang in March 1861 (then called Liang's residence, which was the residence of Yunyou, the seventh son of Emperor Kangxi), and the French Minister officially moved into Prince Anjun's residence (then called Chun's residence, which was the residence of Yunyou, the seventh son of Emperor Kangxi) The residence of Yuele, the grandson of Nurhachi, and the private residence of Dr. s. swilliam, an American citizen, were occupied by the American envoys, while the Russian envoys stayed 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. Until 1937, after the outbreak of the Anti Japanese War, except Germany, Italy and other axis diplomatic officials were transferred to the national government.

The situation after the founding of new China

After 1949, it was still used as an embassy area. The embassies of democratic Germany, Hungary, Myanmar and other countries that established diplomatic relations with the people's Republic of China continued to use the old buildings here until 1959, when they moved to the first embassy area of Sanlitun outside Chaoyang Gate. During the cultural revolution, because of its historical particularity, the street was once again impacted. The street name was changed to "anti imperialist road", and many western style buildings were destroyed. Since the 1980s, with the development of Beijing's urban construction, the buildings of dongjiaomin lane were also impacted. The old sites of Huifeng bank, Jardine Matheson and Russia Pavilion were demolished due to the widening of the road; Dehua bank was established in 1992 The former site of the Japanese embassy was occupied by the Beijing municipal government. Many high-rise buildings and modern buildings were built on the street, which greatly damaged the style of the whole street. Today, dongjiaomin lane is a cultural relic protection block in Beijing. Protected by the cultural relics department.

historical significance

Like the embassies of Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Austria, Japan and the Netherlands, the Belgian embassy was the base for the powers to coerce and collude with the Qing government, oppress the Chinese people and carry out aggression against China. After the invasion of Beijing by the great powers, they burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of crimes, which aroused the great anger of the Chinese people. This anger finally broke out in 1900 when the boxers attacked foreign embassies and churches. The embassies of Belgium, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands, which were not adjacent to other embassies, were the first to bear the brunt. After conquering the embassies of Austria and Holland on May 25, the boxers conquered the embassies of Belgium and Italy on May 27. Later, the Boxer Movement was defeated by the joint efforts of Chinese and foreign reactionary forces.

In 1901, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of humiliation and humiliation with the foreign powers, returned the embassies and churches of the occupied countries, turned Dongjiaominxiang area into a special embassy area for the foreign powers, and used the Boxer Indemnity to let the foreign powers rebuild the embassies and churches. In addition to Spain, more than ten countries, including Belgium, wantonly expanded the sites of their embassies, built barracks, rented real estate, and built banks, posts and telecommunications, and commercial banks run by foreigners. These semi feudal and semi colonial buildings with the mark of humiliation in the past have been preserved to this day, reminding people not to forget the lessons of history, but also an important object for the study of history.

Address: 9 Chongwenmen West Street, Beijing

Longitude: 116.412345

Latitude: 39.901767

Chinese PinYin : Bi Li Shi Shi Guan Jiu Zhi