The Bei Men Neighborhood

Below is a map of the Bei Men (North Gate) neighborhood. All multi-story houses and apartment buildings are shown in solid black, except for the villas of the Overseas Chinese Village, which are shown only as plots. All other houses are one-story and are also shown only as plots, because they are courtyard houses and tend to be built out to the plot line.

As its name implies, the Bei Men (North Gate) neighborhood lies just inside the North Gate of the Old City. Although the walls and gate were demolished long ago, the layout and architecture of the area still reflects its marginal location. Planning controls are looser compared with the Kaiyuan Temple Neighborhood, and so a greater number of five, six and seven-story apartment buildings and even private houses crowd in among the smaller older houses. A significant portion of the area is wetland. For views of this area, you may take a walk through a detailed map (the clickable highlighted area) of Bei Shan Xiang (North Mountain Lane) and Wen Sheng Xiang (Victory of the Arts Lane). Land here has historically been cheaper and less desirable for residences than more central parts of the city, and therefore there are a number of factories mixed in with the housing. There is also a large parcel in the southeast of the area developed relatively recently as the Overseas Chinese Village. This district was planned in the 1950s to accommodate overseas Chinese who wished to maintain a residence on the mainland. It is spaciously laid out and its houses are luxurious in comparison with the average dwelling.