Dongcheng includes many of Beijing's major cultural attractions, such as the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

More than a quarter of the city's Major National Historical and Cultural Sites are inside its boundaries, with a similar percentage of those protected at the municipal level.

[2] Dongcheng is often described, and depicted on simplified maps, as the eastern half of the area inside the 2nd Ring Road.

[3] The boundary turns east at Huangsi Street, following the rear property lines of buildings on the north side.

[3] At Jiaolin Alley it turns south again, following another irregular path through the neighborhoods here to just east of Minwang Hutong.

At the river paralleling the Second Ring Road on its north, it turns east briefly to follow that, cross under the Airport Expressway along Xiangheyuan Middle Street.

[4] It then follows Yongdingmen, Tianqiao, and Qianmen streets due north back to the southern end of Tian'anmen Square.

Along the southern edge of the Forbidden City another small stream, the Changpu River, flows above ground for a kilometer.

The Russian embassy complex just inside the Ring Road at the northeast corner of the district[7] also has another large planted area, although it is fenced off.

[8] The most significant non-park urban open space in the district is the 44-hectare (110-acre) Tiananmen Square at its west central point.

It is a stone-paved pedestrian area with the Monument to the People's Heroes and Zhengyang Gate bracketing its one building, the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

[9] At the east end, the Workers' Gymnasium has some large paved areas and open lawns in its vicinity.

When Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty later in the century, he rebuilt the city and renamed it Dadu.

[12] The overthrow of the Qings and the establishment of the Republic of China in the wake of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 led to the area northeast of the Forbidden City being opened to the public for the first time.

[12] Secondly, many of the wealthy siheyuan residents fled to Taiwan or elsewhere in anticipation of the Communist victory and the likely expropriation of their property; those who remained or did not leave in time indeed suffered that fate.

However, the increased wealth in China created by the economic reforms of the late 20th century, following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, put pressure on Beijing's city government to demolish hutongs in Dongcheng and elsewhere.

They were perceived as architecturally undistinguished substandard slums that could not be fully modernized, to be replaced by urban renewal projects such as the Oriental Plaza mall complex that would impress visitors to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

[14] Often many poorer residents found themselves displaced, unable to afford the luxury housing that replaced their demolished homes.

Lastly, the district committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference serves an advisory function.

[17] While most of China's major government bodies are headquartered in the neighboring Xicheng District, there are a hundred lesser ones in offices throughout Dongcheng.

Owing to its many tourist attractions, much of Dongcheng's economy is in the service sector, which in 2001 accounted for 88% of the district's share of China's gross domestic product.

China National Petroleum Corporation and subsidiary PetroChina share one headquarters facility just inside the district at the Chaoyangmen intersection along the 2nd Ring Road.

"[17] Tax credits are available to eligible businesses that generate at least a half a million renminbi in contributions in their first years of operation in the district.

Mao Zedong worked in the library there, where he was among the leaders of the May Fourth Movement that lent its name to Wusi Street, an experience that later led him to help found the CCP.

The university moved out to a larger campus in the Haidian District when Mao established the People's Republic of China in 1949, and the Honglou is now a museum.

[citation needed] Shortly after the university moved, Mao established the Central Academy of Drama, the only institution of higher education currently in the district.