Beijing Hutongs

The Beijing Hutongs (old lanes) have a very special place in the rich history and culture of Beijing.

The alleys give a wonderful glimpse into yesterday’s world, the old way of life and traditional Beijing culture, and highlight the dramatic changes the rest of Beijing has undergone.

Hutong now means a lane or an alley, formed by rows of siheyuan (a compound with buildings around a courtyard) where old Beijing residents lived. The word "hutong" originates from the word "hottog" which means "a well" in Mongolian, in ancient times villagers dug a well and then lived around it.

Beijing still has about 400,000 residential siheyuan now, mainly distributed over the East, West, Xuanwu, and Chongwen districts. When urban construction threatens the existence of the hutongs, Beijingers become worried. The municipal government has earmarked a number of them for protection, but they are disappearing very quickly and being replaced by modern buildings. (china highlights.com)

A bird's eye view of a hutong in Beijing.

All of the streets are different. Some are businesses, some are homes, some are a combination of both.

 The one thing I have learned is that each hutong is a small community where people often meet together to talk or play mahjong - very similar to chess.

There is a hutong right next to the school that I can see it from my second story window. One day I realized they were tearing one part of the hutong down. However, two weeks later (May 3 to May 17, 2013), it was ready for the owner to move into it. Obviously it doesn't take long to build a place about the size of my front room, but I was still surprised at how quickly it all came together.