Xinmin Street brings several histories into one walkable urban setting. The former Manchukuo State Council building was constructed between 1933 and 1936; after the war, the building was used for medical education and is now associated with Jilin University. Along the street, institutional buildings remain part of a working city rather than an isolated museum precinct. A 2025 renewal removed some compound walls, linked planted courtyards to the street, created pocket parks and adapted the former Changchun Daily offices as the Changchun History and Culture Museum. The result is a public street whose current uses sit beside, and sometimes within, a difficult political past.
Xinmin Street’s former State Council building embodied a Japanese-backed administration before becoming a medical teaching building. Its 2025 renewal connected courtyards and pocket parks to everyday walking routes while the avenue kept its university, hospital and museum uses.