From 1945-50, the Embassy was once again at Nanjing, but following
the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and
Britain's recognition of the new government, embassy staff from
Nanjing arrived in Beijing early in 1950, and returned to the old
compound. The Chinese Government, while according them every diplomatic
courtesy, treated them not as an embassy, but as a negotiating team.
It was not until 1954 that Premier Zhou Enlai and Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden agreed at the Geneva Conference on an exchange of diplomatic
missions. Even then, despite its grand site, the British Embassy
was only to be known as the Office of the Charge d'affaires. It
so remained until 1972, when Britain and the PRC finally exchanged
Ambassadors.
Soon after its establishment, the new Chinese Government indicated
that it intended to move all the embassies and legations out of
the Legation Quarter. In many cases, this was easy, since many countries
had not established diplomatic relations with the PRC and their
former premises were empty. Others like the Soviet Union were willing
to go. The British wanted to stay, but eventually were forced to
leave the Lianggongfu, for "temporary premises" on Guanghua-lu
in the Jianguomenwai area in October 1959. Although the office building
was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, it was rebuilt and the
Guanghua Lu site remains the British Embassy to this day. There
are however, plans to build a new Embassy eventually.
Text by J E Hoare, Research Counsellor, Foreign & Commonwealth
Office, London. Those who wish to learn more can read Dr Hoare's
book Embassies in the East: The story of the British and their
Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the present
(Richmond, England: Curzon Press, 1999).