An interesting feature of Beijing is the interlacing alley which is a must for visiting Beijing. Overlooking from the guest rooms of Capital Hotel, the well-known Dongjiaominxiang Alley just comes into your sight.
The Dongjiaominxiang Alley，the longest alley in Beijing，is located in the north of the hotel with a total length of 1552 meters. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Dongjiaominxiang was connected with the Xijiangmixiang Alley in the west of Tiananmen Square and won the name of Jiangmixiang Alley (literally Glutinous Rice Alley). In the Ming and Qing Dynasty, Dongjiaominxiang Alley is where the government offices were located, such as the Ministry of Civil Officials, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Army, the Ministry of Construction, the Court of Imperial Family, the Imperial Academy of Medicine and Hanlin Academy. Since 1900, the Dongjiaominxiang Alley became Foreign Embassy District where housed the embassies of France, Japan, the U.S.A, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Austria, etc. In 2001, the embassy buildings were officially designated as the key National Cultural Relic under Preservation Units by The State Council.
Until now, while wandering the Dongjiaominxiang Alley, one can still get a glimpse of the old buildings of the Embassy of France, its Post Office, Grand Hotel des WagonLits and Citibank of U.S.A to get the feel of the past glory of this time-honored alley.