The Chinese Legation in London was established at 49 Portland Place in 1877 by the
Qing Empire, becoming China's first permanent overseas diplomatic mission. As part of the settlement of the
Margary Affair, the Qing Empire was required to send an Imperial commissioner to London to apologise in person to
Queen Victoria.
Guo Songtao, Deputy Minister of Arms, was appointed Minister to Britain and Minister to France in 1876 and sent to London. Guo arrived at
Southampton on 12 January 1877. In preparation for his arrival, James Duncan Campbell, non-resident secretary of the Chinese Imperial Customs Service and head of its London office, leased 49 Portland Place, and the Chinese Legation was officially established on Guo's arrival in London on 7 February 1877. The legation was the location of the detention of
Sun Yat-sen, an important episode in the lead-up to the
1911 Revolution. Sun's detention sparked a major diplomatic incident, but he was eventually released with the help of his friend
James Cantlie. After the 1911 revolution, the
Republic of China was established on 1 January 1912 and was recognised by the British government as the legitimate government of China on 6 October 1913. The Republic of China government took over the building from the Qing government, and extended the lease on No. 49 in 1924. In 1926, the Chinese government leased the adjoining 51 Portland Place as well, and obtained a 999-year lease on both No. 49 and No. 51. In 1935, the level of Chinese diplomatic representation in Britain was upgraded, and the Chinese Legation became the Chinese Embassy. After the revolution of 1949, the UK government for a short time continued to recognise the Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, but in 1950 switched recognition to the
People's Republic of China, which inherited the buildings in 1954 with the formal establishment of relations; an ambassador was first appointed in 1972. British authorities agreed to a Chinese request to demolish the buildings and rebuild them as a single building with a sympathetic façade in 1973. The buildings were demolished in 1980, rebuilding took place between 1983 and 1985. The new building, while sympathetic to the original, retains only one doorway in place of the two doorways of the two houses it replaced. The embassy has in recent years been the site of protests against actions of the Chinese government, including protests against the imprisonment of artist
Ai Weiwei, and in favour of
Tibetan independence. There has been a
Falun Gong protester sitting opposite the embassy for many years; this is referenced in the novel
Saturday by
Ian McEwan. On 3 June 2014, members of staff at the Chinese embassy in London reacted angrily when people arrived to lay flowers to mark the
25th anniversary of the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Wang Ti-Anna, the daughter of an imprisoned democracy activist and another women were shoved, their flowers thrown away, and they were shouted at by a member of staff, before calm returned to the scene. In London regular protests against the
persecution of Uyghurs in China outside an outpost of the Chinese embassy have been organized by an Orthodox Jewish man from the local neighborhood. He has held protests at least twice a week since February 2019. == Services ==