Beijing Hutong Tour

In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. In old China, many neighborhoods were traditionally formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. Many hutongs are between only 40 centimeters and 10 meters wide. Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

We were able to take a bicycle rickshaw tour of a Hutong area of Beijing. It was a glimpse into how "old China" is very much alive in current China. And of course these neighborhoods made us very aware of the economic divide among Chinese people. What really grabbed my attention is that 30 people in these neighborhoods share a public bathroom since there is often no toilet or running water in these homes.

Here Brian and Sydney are in the courtyard of one Hutong residence, which has been turned into an informal guest house for tourists, and was also open for tourists to enter for a look around. We're drinking tea and learning more about the Hutong way of life while Sydney attempts a get-away. (Actually I was afraid to drink it since we had learned the optimal tea brewing temperature is 80 degrees, which won't kill enough germs for my taste, literally.)

This particular residence seemed very nice and the courtyard was a great gathering place. There were four separate buildings forming the square courtyard. Each building housed a different room of the house. This photo shows the sitting room. It seemed the rooms were fairly small given the fact that extended families would live in these homes together.

Here is an old entrance to a typical Hutong residence. From the doorway, you can tell the "class" of the inhabitants. In this case, a common military person lived here, we were told. And I thought we were common military folks...makes us glad times have changed and that we live in a developed country.