Badaguan stands on the southern slope of Taiping Mountain, between Taipingjiao and Huiquanjiao in Shinan District, and covers 666,000 square metres. It was laid out in the 1930s and takes its name, the Eight Great Passes, from the streets inside it, which are named after military passes of ancient China: Zijinguan, Ningwuguan and Shaoguan run north to south, crossed by Wushengguan, Jiayuguan, Hanguguan, Zhengyangguan, Linhuaiguan, Juyongguan and Shanhaiguan. Most of its European-style buildings went up in the 1930s, though a few date from the German period of 1897 to 1914, and more than 200 buildings carry the styles of Russia, Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, Denmark and some twenty other countries. The ensemble of near-modern buildings was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit in 2001.
The name of Badaguan promises German years, but most of its villas are from the 1930s. What the district really keeps is a plan: eight passes for street names, one species of tree on each road, and a building limit of fifty per cent.