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Description

The Beijing Legation Quarter at the  Time of the Second Boxer Rebellion

Interesting map of the "Legation Quarter" of Beijing, location of the governmental offices of the foreign powers then resident in China.

Located immediately south of the Imperial City, the Legation Quarter housed the diplomatic, customs and other foreign  government operations of:

  • United States
  • Great Britain
  • Russia
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • France
  • Spain
  • Germany
  • Austria-Hungary
  • Germany
  • France
  • Belgium

The Beijing Legation Quarter was the area in Beijing, China where a number of foreign legations were located between 1861 and 1959. In the Chinese language, the area is known as Dong Jiaomin Xiang, which is the name of the hutong (lane or small street) through the area, immediately to the east of Tiananmen Square.  

The Legation Quarter was the location of the 55-day siege of the International Legations, which took place during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. After the Boxer Rebellion, the Legation Quarter was under the jurisdiction of foreign countries with diplomatic legations (later most commonly called "embassies") in the quarter. The foreign residents were exempt from Chinese law. The Legation Quarter attracted many diplomats, soldiers, scholars, artists, tourists, and Sinophiles.

World War II effectively ended the special status of the Legation Quarter, and with the Great Leap Forward and other events in communist China most of the European-style buildings of the Legation Quarter were destroyed.