The longest Hutong in Beijing--Dongjiaominxiang
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French Post Office
The middle section of Dongjiaominxiang was once dominated by French influence. Not far from the French embassy and St. Michael's Church (see below), a restaurant on the north side of the street, called Jingyuan Sichuan Restaurant, serves typical Sichuan cuisine. The original use of the building, however, was as the French post office. In their reformatted workplace, surrounded by a row of houses with Gallic bronze lanterns, delicate bolts and doorknobs, the restaurant staff will tell this fact to visitors in choppy English. Ask them for more details, however, and they merely smile and shake their heads.
No 13: St. Michael's Church
Even in a hutong dominated by foreign architecture, one cannot help but pause to admire St. Michael's Church. Built in 1901, St. Michael's is a two-storey gothic structure, very distinctive amid the surrounding flat-topped buildings and famous for a statue of the saint over the gate, as well as for its colorful stained glass. The rectory lies to the north of the church, and 10 single-storey brick buildings in the style of traditional Chinese folk houses, but with arched doors and windows, sit to the east. These buildings were built later, and used as the offices for Church. The church was built by a French priest and is still in use; Services are held twice a day in Chinese, at 6:30 am and 7 am, from Monday to Saturday, and four times on Sunday at 7 am, 8 am and 6 pm in Chinese, and 10:30 am in Korean.
Beijing Police Museum (Site of the National City Bank of New York)
The Beijing Police Museum is toward the western end of Dongjiaominxiang, near Zhengyi Lu. The building is simple and serious, with a solemn gate and tall pillars. It's easy to imagine bankers, dapper in old-fashioned suits and ties, bustling around, but the serious-looking guards who now loiter near the entrance provide an unsubtle reminder that this is now the Police Museum.
The first floor chronicles the history of the Chinese police, from the early days when the new republic took over the old police station to the recovery from the Cultural Revolution. Also displayed are forensic tools and national security plans for National Day celebrations.
The second floor exhibits more recent police technology, like polygraph machines and 3-D imaging software. The third and fourth floors have a memorial wall that lists all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives heroically, as well as an impressive glass display of handguns and mannequins modeling a series of police uniforms of history. There are some interactive activities inside the museum as well, like a simulation shooting range, a real-time display of traffic and road conditions, and self-help trainings for escaping fires.
Admission: 5 yuan, or 20 yuan for a set ticket that includes admission and 20 bullets for the simulation shooting range
Hours: 9 am – 4 pm (tickets are sold until 3:30 pm, and the museum is closed on Mondays)
Zhengjin Building (Site of Yokohama Specie Bank)
Zhengjin Building is a charming castle-style building painted in brick-red and off-white tones. Surrounded by a cluster of boxy Roman-style buildings, Zhengjin is quite eye-catching. During the Anti-Japanese war, under the direct command of chief spy Kenji Doihara, the place was the central agency for the Japanese to control the financial market for their colony in northeast China. After the founding of the PRC, the building housed the nation's authoritative banking offices. In early days it was the headquarters of the Central Finance Committee, and its the current resident, Huarong Group, plays a similar role in the Chinese financial industry today.
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