 World War II effectively ended the special status of the Legation Quarter, and with the Great Leap Forward and other events in communist China most of the European-style buildings of the Legation Quarter were destroyed.During the Yuan dynasty, the street was known as the "Dong Jiangmi Xiang" (), or "East River-Rice Lane".It was the location of the tax office and customs authorities, because of its proximity to the Grand Canal, east, by which rice and grains arrived in Beijing from the south.