These were taken in a small section of Beijing where the foreign legations were located. This quarter is close to the palace, and was a virtual "city within a city". It was established in the 1860's and contained the walled embassies of the major powers of the day, banks, shops, hotels, a post office and other attributes of western civilisation. In 1900 the area was under siege for a couple of months during the Boxer uprising. Many buildings from that time still survive. From an architectural point of view, the buildings are an interesting mixture of Chinese and various European styles.