A green-roofed building rises behind a wall at No 40, which was once the Dutch Legation. To the north, a faded street sign reads 'USSR Embassy Compound Lane', marking the road that ran alongside the former Russian legation, now the China's Supreme People's Court.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Beijing Police Museum

0.08 MILES

Propaganda notwithstanding, this is an engaging foray into the storied history of Beijing’s police force. Learn how China's first Security Bureau (PSB)…

2. Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall

0.17 MILES

Presenting a top-down perspective on the world's most micromanaged megacity, dry exhibits detail the government's grand schemes for Beijing, with scant…

3. Former Legation Quarter

0.19 MILES

Following the Second Opium War in 1860, one of Britain's treaty demands was for permanent diplomatic digs in Beijing, hence the Legation Quarter, a three…

5. Former Yokohama Specie Bank

0.22 MILES

Built after the Boxer Rebellion in 1910, this is one of most impressive western-style buildings in the Former Legation Quarter. It's now home to the China…

6. National Museum of China

0.24 MILES

Vast and energy-sapping, China's showpiece museum is housed in an immense 1950s Soviet-style building on the eastern side of Tian'anmen Sq, and claims to…

7. Former British Legation

0.29 MILES

This historic entryway is all you can see of the palatial former British Legation, now home to China's Security Bureau. It was where most of the…

8. Chairman Mao Memorial Hall

0.29 MILES

One of Beijing's more surreal spectacles is the sight of Mao Zedong's embalmed corpse on public display within his mausoleum. The Soviet-inspired memorial…