Former Site of the German Consulate in Fengtian, Shenyang

In 1907, the German Empire established a consular agency in Fengtian (now Shenyang) to oversee its interests across Liaoning Province. German merchants had arrived in Northeast China to supply Siemens electrical equipment and copper wiring for the Chinese Eastern Railway. The hum of these new machines drove a lucrative trade, prompting the need for a permanent diplomatic outpost.

The current structures at No. 19 Bei Er Jing Street rose in 1926, designed by the German architect Curt Rothkegel. His blueprints created a compound of offices, garages, and apartments. Today, two buildings remain. The West Building, a brick-and-wood structure with two stories and a deep basement, displays a strict, three-section symmetry. Across the courtyard, the yellow-painted East Building features a second-story balcony resting on classic Corinthian columns.

The walls of this compound absorbed the sudden shifts of twentieth-century geopolitics. In March 1917, during the First World War, the Chinese Beiyang government declared war on Germany. Diplomats hastily packed their papers, abandoned the consulate, and departed. The building stood quiet until July 1920, when German officials returned to resume their duties.

Following the Mukden Incident of 1931, most foreign nations closed their missions and left the city. The German consulate remained open. Because of the Axis alliance between Germany and Japan, German diplomats continued their work here throughout the Second World War, finally departing when Japan surrendered in 1945.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the property took on new, local lives. The yellow East Building became private residential apartments, where families cooked and lived. In 1950, the military established a nursery school in the West Building. Today, the former office of imperial diplomats serves as the Liaoning Provincial Military District Fifth Kindergarten. The sound of children playing now fills the symmetrical brick halls, while the classic Corinthian columns of the East Building stand quietly in the residential courtyard, preserving a century of global friction and daily survival.