The buildings of Baiwanzhuang in Beijing’s Xicheng District were constructed for residential use during the 1950s. Entering these small neighborhoods, you are presented with lanes that twist and turn. The houses are laid out in strange and complicated patterns, almost like a labyrinth.

What you might not realize is that you’ve entered a replica of the Eight Trigrams, a figure used in ancient Chinese divinity that a history of over 3,000 years. The houses here are all laid out in accordance with the pattern of the Eight Trigrams and are named after the Twelve Earthly Branches. It is said that the area was unlucky because there used to be a burial ground there so, it was only by building the houses along the pattern of the Eight Trigrams that misfortune could be avoided.

Such kind of thins can also be found in many other Chinese architectures.