The Monitor newspaper, based in Boston, USA, recently ran a story from its foreign correspondent in China titled “Getting to know the residents of Beijing.”
A few days later a resident of Beijing, a foreigner himself, wrote a letter to the Monitor and it was published today. It reads:
[The reporter for your June 16 article “Getting to know the residents of Beijing” makes a mistake of perspective typical of foreign visitors to China.
Beijing’s hutong laneways are NOT romantic remnants of a lost China – they are open sewers inhabited by the extremely poor. On either side the siheyuan courtyard house high walls do not reflect elements of feng shui - but rather a desire for some privacy in overpopulated China. Rather than lamenting the demolition of hutong and siheyuan as an architectural conservation tragedy, we should be celebrating the destruction of what are, in reality, mostly brick shantytowns.
Tours via pedicab through “renovated” siheyuan bear as much relationship to China’s “real past” as a trip to Disney’s “Main Street” does to America’s real past.
"Lane, you should come and see Beijing – hutongs are the only nice thing that still exists here, although I am not saying they are comfortable to live in.
Most Chinese do want to get out of the siheyuan and move into one of those new, high buildings. So, it is hard to say… But, there are many, many Beijingers who cannot see what is happening to their city – everything being torn down, everything new build in lots of concrete and alu-glass fashion, it is not beautiful indeed."
There are no open sewers in Beijing. They cleared them up back in the 1950s. I visited friends living in siheyuan courtyards back around 1980. A little shabby, dusty, but not slums by any means. They were cosy places dotted with flower pots and bird cages, where you knew your neighbours. Now there is a big area - west of the Lama Temple - where they have kept the hutung (lanes) and they are pretty much as they used to be, except that the residents have colour TVs these days.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to Beijing, but I’m glad to see that there are still some remmanats of the old hutong world of the city. I was in Beijing shortly after the Tienamen Square incident, when it was still very much a bicycle city. Cruising everywhere by bike, and spending days exploring the hutongs were highlights of my trip.
I was under the impression that, in it’s rush for “modernity” at any cost, and to make the city a face gaining international showcase of the great economic miracle, vast tracts of old neighborhoods have been plowed under, with a loss of the old hutong culture.
I would imagine that a carefully restored, government approved traditonal neighborhood would be a disaster, but if you can find the real deal, they still must be very worth visiting, and yes, offer an insight into a vanishing lifestyle.
Was just there last month. Hutongs are nicer areas of Beijing for photographs, and are quieter as well.
They aren’t modern - they are older houses, in courtyard style. Beijing is a dusty city, and they are as well. Any area that has been continuously lived in for decades or longer, especially in densely populated areas tend to be on the scuzzier side. Compounding this seems to be a widespread idea in Chinese residents that one should only clean and take care of one’s immediate space.
I didn’t find the hutongs disgusting at all. Shrlin night market on any given night offers more sludge underfoot.
They are great places to see and photograph. Also, until the 1950’s, Beijing was a horizontal city. It was considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and part of its grace was the flat, ordered way it was planned and constructed. In the rush for modernity and convenience, Beijing has been growing up, up, up.
Now, the hutongs are really the last parts where you can see anything of the former city (aside from preserved historical places).
Have you been to the “jien chuin” - the military housing areas all around Taiwan? They are also interesting areas. Generally one - two storey houses, narrow lanes, red doors, etc… Not exactly like hutongs, but a similar concept. I lived in one in Tainan. Great experience for someone looking for a different kind of life in Asia. But, as with most older, run-down areas, you do get more cockroaches, closer neighbours, less sound-proofing, etc…
Worth your while to check out either of these areas in Beijing or Taiwan.
Enjoy
Sorry, I know this is off topic, but I had a good chuckle over this line. So true.
I remember many a time slipping and sliding around that food stall core area, and thinking what would happen if one discarded match should hit the layer of oil and filth covering the surface of the whole eating area.