Culture in the Walled City Continued: The Yamen

Along with the city's rooftops, the Yamen was the most important social gathering spot for the Walled City's residents. The city's community centre, the Yamen was a three hall structure. Some uses for the Yamen included a home for the aged, a home for widows and orphans, a school, and a clinic. In 1996, the Yamen was preserved and restored to remind people of its historical past. The Yamen is today one of the only vestiges of one of the truly miraculous aspects of human civilization that was destroyed by the working machine of a nation reestablishing its dominance over the territory