The Imperial Granary, built 600 years ago, now offers Kunqu Opera every weekend.

With the emergence of new buildings like the CCTV Tower, Bird's Nest and T3, Beijing is metamorphosing into a modern city at an unprecedented speed. At the same time, however, there is also a countercurrent of going back to old houses in the city.

Nowadays you can go to a concert of traditional folk music at the Mawood Theater or a Kunqu opera at the Imperial Granary, both converted from buildings of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). You can also see an art exhibition or enjoy dinner at one of the Michelin-starred restaurants at the Ch'ien Men 23, the United States Embassy in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), or go to a rock gig at the Yugong Yishan Club, which was part of government house in the 1920s.

"I like old buildings because they have more character and you can embrace history there," says Handel Lee, executive chairman of the Ch'ien Men 23 (www.legationquarter.com), which is to the southeast of the Tian'anmen Square, at 23 Qianmen East Street.

Handel Lee, executive chairman of the Ch'ien Men 23.

Today's Ch'ien Men 23 was built in 1903 as the former US Embassy. In the second half of the 20th century, it also served as the Dalai Lama's residence, foreign minister's office and the former Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Today, the five neo-classical buildings have been developed into a trendy compound for dining, shopping, art and entertainment, including six restaurants, an art gallery and a studio theater.

"The idea is to revitalize these historical buildings to provide a place for people to enjoy a combination of past and current Chinese lives, an experience one can only get in China," says Lee, an American-Chinese who was born in 1961 in the US and has been living in China since 1991.

Ch'ien Men 23 is the third project that Lee has developed in China, after the Courtyard Gallery, housed in a traditional Chinese courtyard just outside the Forbidden City, and Three on the Bund, a complex of restaurants, fashion stores and art gallery in a historical building on Shanghai's Bund.

"While trying our best to protect the historical buildings, we are also trying to make them come back to life," Lee says.

In order to bring back the original look of Ch'ien Men 23, Lee and his designer referred to old pictures of the former US Embassy, including photos from the Library of Congress in the US. They also rebuilt a demolished gate of the US Embassy on the street of Dongjiao Minxiang, which was the area for foreign embassies in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty.