Hutongs - Bell and Drum Towers, Beijing

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BEIJING
I found that I had been extremely lucky when booking a Hostel to stay in Beijing and looking at the accomodation possibilites I wisely chose to stay in a "Hutong"..This apparently was an extremely popular Hutong area that many Chinese from all over the city visited usually on weekends..At this time the Hutongs would have crowds of local Beijing residents all dressed up in their fineries...strutting their stuff in the Hutong.
The popularity was apparent with many different cafes and eateries and tea houses catering to the many visitors.although the place itself while full of life it was pretty well devoid of colour..This was a great place to stay and daily walks through the many back streets of the hutongs were very interesting..watching the locals going about their daily lifetime activities within the "Hutongs".To be a westerner here is for many to be something of a celebrity with many asking to have their photo taken with you !!!!

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Hutongs are those small narrow streets were remnant from the ancient city of Beijing. If you walk around those streets , you would be amazed how old Beijing could be. With my own imagination, I pictured those ancient Chinese city in the movie. Then, there is the forbidden City in the center of Beijing. And the average people lived around the palace. The whole ancient city was well planned with strategy.

Unfortunately, the city of Beijing has demolished a lot of these houses to build high rises for modern development. The city also preserved some Hutong streets for tourism purpose. The South Luogu Ally would be a good example.

In Chinese: 胡同 (Hu Dong)

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After our tour through the Hutongs in the Ho Hoi area we moved on to the Drum Tower with our guide. From the top of the Drum Tower we could see the skyline of Beijing. Off in the distance, almost forboding looking, is The Forbidden City, forever preserved from destruction.

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A Hutong is the name given to a small square formed by the various rooms of a typical old fashioned Beijing dwelling.

As you drive through the flashy wide streets of modern Beijing, dwarfed by its glittering sky-scrapers, you won't find these little squares readily. You need to go off the beaten path. Like much of the world, Beijing has destroyed many of the original hutongs to make way for modern development. Then, realising its mistake, the Government is now doing all it can to preserve these wonderful native structures.

Wander a little bit off the main thoroughfares, for example around the area surrounding the Back Lake, and find yourself some narrow streets (so narrow even one car can't pass down) and you may begin your hutong search.

We were part of a guided tour and so we were taken to a renovated and modernised one. It was very pretty, with the open space of the hutong covered in grape vines hung with red lanterns and twittering birds.

It seems that the hutong is laid out to conform with the ethos of feng sui, with the main building at the Northern end, kitchen at the south east, and bathroom at the south west.

Those that have been modernised are now fitted with showers, computers, tv's and all mod cons.

I would suggest that you go off the beaten path to find one that hasn't beern modernised - that's what I would have liked:-)

We climbed towards the Houtongs, the ancient streets, which are already very few. In the area of the Prince Gong's Palace there are a few... But there are 2 types of streets here:
- there is kind of tour to tourist, with buses and rickshaws, and shops in the streets selling things to tourists.
- on the around streets is just the normal life of the locals. Here come up normal neighborhoods, poor, in a doorway, giving rise to a small neighborhood ... It is also Beijing!

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I went to Great Wall by bus, line 919. The starting station is at De sheng men Gate, an ancient City Gate,also named Jianlou Tower (literal means a broigne for arrow solider). It is used to be part of city wall of Beijing and you can still see some remain wall here.You can take subway here, line 2 at De Sheng Men station, or you will drive an auto passing here for it is also the starting of Ba da ling expressway.I remembered a history event when i was waiting bus, a war to defend Beijing from invading by Mongolian and just happened in this Gate .This is a story about brave and determination. No matter how hopelessness, you need to hold on to the last, then you will do a miracle.

At Ming Dynasty in 1446 AD, ancient Mongolian won a battle at Tu mu bao and prisoned Yingzong, the Chinese emperor, and also killed 200,000 soldiers. Then they invaded further until they met a general, Yu qian. Yu qian and his troops waited Mongolian outside the Den sheng men Gate(the north gate of Beijing). It is a final war for them and if they lost, the whole history of China would be changed. After the troops went across the city moat, the gate was closed behind them. In front of astonished eyes of his army, Yuqian said,"it is no use to only talk about your determination usually. Today you need to realize it. Fight untill your death". It means only two types of person can came into the city again, victory one or corpus. He is an hero, isn't it?

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the ancient houses of the capital beijing where very small and are mostly gone since they are remodelling Beijing and building large condominiums to accomodate the burgeoning population of the capital. a typical hutong has a one to two room area and the rooms are multi-purpose like for eating or sleeping or living room etc.

There is not much of old Beijing left. The first impression a visitor gets as he races along the highway from the airport is of a modern city rushing headlong into the 21st century: shopping malls, corporate towers, highrise hotels. But you can find something of the old Beijing in the hutongs, the lanes or alleys which run between compounds of houses built around an inner courtyard. The word "hutong" apparently comes from an old Mongolian word meaning "well". A well was dug, and houses were built around it. Take a cycle rickshaw through the gray-tiled lanes and relive something of Beijing's traditional past.