Dongjiaominxiang Lane

Dongjiaominxiang （东交民巷） is a lane that runs parallel to and south of Chang'an Avenue. It stretches from Qianmen Gate eastward to Chongwenmennei Street, crossing a number north-south streets. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, institutions handling exernal relations with Western nations and major Chinese minority ethnic groups living in border areas were located here. In the early 20th century, the Eight-Power Allied Forces (Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, Russia, France, Italy and Austria) invaded Beijing and made this area the legation section. There they built embassies, barracks, hospitals, banks, churches and office buildings for foreign business firms.