Hutong

Overview

The Beijing Hutong (old lane) areas have a very special and important position in the rich history and culture of Beijing. The alleys give a wonderful glimpse into the world of yesterday in Beijing. While visiting the Beijing Hutong, you can appreciate the dramatic changes that the rest of Beijing has undergone.

The Beijing Hutong is made up of lanes or alleys formed by lines of pre-modern siheyuan, four-sided compounds with houses around a courtyard.

Low-rise "old Beijing" is a striking contrast to the apartment blocks of "new Beijing".

Beijing road classification was once as follows: 36-foot-wide road was called a standard street, a 18-foot-wide one was a small street and a 9-foot-wide lane was named a Hutong. In fact, the Beijing Hutong are unclassifiable by the traditional standard, ranging from 40 centimeters to 10 feet in width. The longest Hutong has more than 20 turns. It is easy to get lost in the maze of winding lanes that is the Hutong, with the gray-tiled houses and deep alleys crossing each other, all identical in appearance, with many blind Hutongs or cul-de-sacs.

Hutongs were first named as such in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), with its Mongolian rulers having an influence on the Chinese language. However, siheyuan or quadrangles, have probably been around much longer.

The Chinese word ’Hutong’ means lane and is curiously made up from the word for beard ’hu’ and the word for same, ’tong’, which makes no sense, and therefore is probably an attempt to represent a word from another language with a rough phoneticization using Chinese characters. The word Hutong originates from the word hottog which means well; in Mongolian. Villagers used to dig a well and take up residence around it.

The name of a Hutong represents its origin, location or history. It is in the gray-tiled deep lanes that families play, travel, buy goods, gossip and connect. In Beijingers’ eyes, Hutong means a period of history, a cordial lifestyle and even an "encyclopedia of Beijing".

Within the numerous Hutongs are scattered the residences of famous personages. Laoshe, a well-known playwright is just one of them. Laoshe was born in a small lane, in the west of the city. The memory of his childhood was so dear and left such a deep impression that after he’d been away from Beijing for more than 20 years, he still clearly remembered his birthplace, and he made it the backdrop of his novel "Four Generations Under One Roof". Many famous operas and dramas are based on the themes of Hutong life. A visit to the Hutongs plus a drama by the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, such as "Teahouse" or "Small Hutong" in the evening will help you appreciate this fundamental part of Beijing’s history.

When urban construction threatens the existence of these Hutongs, Beijingers become worried. Beijing still has about 400,000 residential quadrangles now, mainly distributed over the East, West, Xuanwu and Chongwen districts. The municipal government has earmarked a number of these compounds for protection.

Location
-Located in Beijing city

Features
A period of history, a cordial lifestyle and even an "encyclopedia of Beijing" A striking contrast to the apartment blocks of "new Beijing