Exploring Beijing's Hutong

By staff reporter ZHANG HUA

Beijing'S hutong are a distinct facet of its historic sites and treasures. To senior residents, they mark the dynastic passage of time in their capital home.

Hutong

A bird's-eye view of old houses and hutongs from the Drum Tower.

Imperial Beijing was made up of thousands of hutong, radiating out from the Forbidden City. They were built during the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Behind the doors embedded in hutong walls are quadrangles (siheyuan), with spacious courtyards bounded by houses on three sides and an entrance on the fourth. This enclosed style of residence suited the extended family unit perfectly, as its members could live in close proximity, yet in adequate privacy.

Though many hutong have disappeared, their names survive. Beijing has over 4,000 hutong, named after imperial and government offices, temples, warehouses, workshops, bridges, rivers, markets, and noted personages.

Of Beijing's remaining hutong communities, Shichahai, which according to an old saying, "... came into being earlier than the city of Beijing," offers the best insight into hutong life. Many of its quadrangles and hutong have associations with historic and contemporary celebrities. Famous sites include the Qing Dynasty Prince Gong Mansion; former residences of Soong Ching Ling (Mme. Sun Yat-sen, late honorary president of the People's Republic of China), writer Guo Moruo, and famed Peking Opera exponent Mei Lanfang; the Bell and Drum towers; the Arrow Tower of the Desheng Gate; Guanghua Temple; Huitong Ancestral Temple; and Huixian Hall.

The host's collection of objects.

A leisurely way of touring Shichahai hutong is by pedicab and a good place to start is the western edge of Shicha Lake, before crossing the Yinding (Silver Ingot) Bridge to the Drum Tower. On climbing the tower a panorama of local hutong comes to view. Continue to the Rear Lake area for a look at the ancient South and North Official House hutong, the Greater and Lesser Gold Lion hutong, and the Front and Rear Well hutong. Last stop is Prince Gong's Mansion and huge garden on Liuyin Street, for a glimpse at the imperial opulence that once was.

In summer, visitors can take an old style gondola along the Shicha Lake waterway. The boat, seven meters long and 1.7 meters wide, follows the design of that in the famous Song Dynasty (960-1279) painting, Qingming Festival at the Riverside, as does the costume of yellow waistcoat and a cone-shaped bamboo hat worn by the gondolier. At nightfall an oil lamp is lit as a woman sitting in the front of the vessel plays the zither-like pipa. Visitors may enjoy tea and dessert on the boat, or order dinner from the famous lakeside restaurant, Kaorouji. This is the perfect opportunity to float river lanterns on the lake and make a wish.

Retired folk in front of a small hutong shop. Yu Xiangjun

Shichahai is both a symbol of the city's culture and a showcase for Beijing's cosmopolitanism. Its lanes are lined with cafes, bars, boutiques, bookstores, and restaurants that, situated in ancient palatial style buildings, each have their own distinctive d¨¦cor, and would not look out of place in any European country.

This is also the district to go and see the former residence of a celebrity. Famous Peking Opera Master Mei Lanfang lived in an elegant, double courtyard house whose rooms on the eastern, western and northern sides of the inner courtyard connect by exquisitely painted corridors. In the front courtyard are Mei Lanfang's drawing room, study, bedroom, and living room, with furniture and decorations just as they were when he lived there. On the walls are pictures of Mei Lanfang in exquisite performance postures of finger, hand and body that characterized his superlative artistry.

Soong Ching Ling, late honorary president of the People's Republic of China, lived in a house with a large garden that was originally the mansion of Mingzhu, a high-ranking official of the Qing Kangxi Reign. Later Prince Zaichun, father of the last emperor Pu Yi, lived there. The garden features a rockery, lake and zigzagging corridors. At its eastern end is a Qing Dynasty quadrangle in whose courtyard two 100-year-old Chinese flowering crabapple trees grow. Soong Ching Ling kept pigeons here, a tradition carried on throughout the neighborhood.

Prince Gong's Mansion is at 17 West Street Front Lake. The size of Zhongshan Park, it is the largest and best preserved Qing Dynasty prince's mansion. The mansion was also occupied by He Shen, a notoriously corrupt Qing Dynasty official, and is a monument to his hedonistic lifestyle.

Tour Notes:

1. Shichahai Park is in Xicheng District, just across a street north of Beihai Park and at the northern edge of the West Lake.

Transportation: Take Bus 13 and get off at the rear gate of Beihai Park, or take buses 22, 27, 38 or 44 and get off at Xinjiekou Huokou.

2. A good way to travel around hutong is by bicycle. Clear road signs, abundant cultural landmarks along the way, and the freedom to stop on whim make cycling the best way to go. A rest at the Silver Ingot Bridge as the sun sets behind the Western Hills is the perfect ending to a bicycle tour.

Bicycles are available for rent on the northeast and southwest banks of the Front Lake. A tandem costs 20 yuan an hour at peak season and 15 yuan in the off-season. A regular bicycle costs 10 yuan an hour.

3. Visiting hutong by pedicab is popular with Chinese and foreign tourists. The Beijing Hutong Culture Tourism Company recommends the following stops: Shichahai, Yinding Bridge, Oblique Yandai Street, visits to hutong and quadrangles, dinner (home-cooked dishes, jiaozi and beverages) with a family living in a quadrangle, sightseeing by pedicab, joining in folk activities (various card and chessboard games, yangko dancing), and cruising on Shicha Lake in a gondola as you listen to the pipa being played onboard and float river lanterns. Gondolas are rented out between 17:00 and 20:30 from April to October.

Hutong Households

Oriental familial culture thrives in the quadrangles behind hutong doors. The host of the east wing chambers of the compound courtyard at 17 West Street Front Lake, now shared by several families, so describes courtyard life: ¡°The square of sky above is yours; the square of ground beneath your feet is yours. No sooner do you take a stool and sit in the courtyard, than a motley crowd gathers around you, chatting, playing cards, or singing their favorite Peking Opera arias. Your first greeting of the day is when you look up and see the neighborhood pigeons flying overhead across the rooftops.¡±

This man obviously feels comfortable in a relationship with neighbors as close as that with his family members. He says he would not live in an apartment building because its insularity and estrangement from neighbors would make him feel stranded. "Here in a courtyard intimacy and help are all around you," he says. "Neighbors care for one another. For example, if a roof should leak on a rainy day, or the courtyard flood, all residents, young and old, will pitch in to help solve the problem." Many quadrangles in the hutong around Shichahai are now open to visitors.

Mr Wu of 2 Xiaojinsi Hutong has welcomed visitors to his home since hutong tours first started. Now retired from the Archeological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, he enjoys talking about ways of preserving the ancient city. He says that hutong in Beijing are mostly built of brick and stone that over the years many have been worn away to expose centuries-old Chinese architectural workmanship. In certain areas the worn down sections have been patched up with cement. Mr Wu disagrees with this practice, saying that it detracts from the overall authenticity of hutong. He enjoys discussing with foreign visitors scientific ways of protecting hutong so as to preserve them wholly as they were built.

Tour Notes:

1. The Bao family residence at 12 Nanguanfang (South Official House) Lane is over 400 years old. In the 1940s, its occupant was Li Yuqin, fourth wife of the last emperor Pu Yi. Visitors may look around the house, and have tea and local delicacies while chatting to Bao, who speaks English, and his wife, who speaks Japanese.

2. The Qi household at 10 Houxiaojing (Rear Small Well) Lane is home to a three-generation family. Visitors who would like to eat dinner at the house should make a reservation one day in advance. Dinner includes five cold dishes (usually peanuts, fried chicken breast, fruit salad, bean curd, and tomato) and four hot dishes. Mrs Qi's specialty is gongbao jiding, or stir-fried spicy chicken cubes. Other dishes in her repertoire include shao qiezi (sauted eggplant stew), dongsun roupian (stir-fried winter bamboo shoots and pork slices), culiu tudousi (stir-fried shreaded potato with vinegar) and jidan huanggua (stir-fried eggs and cucumber).

3. Between May and September, visitors are recommended to make their way through hutong at around sunset when Shichahai heaves with local activity.

Tour Information:

Spend Chinese New Year with a Farming Family

Time: January 22, 2004

Place: Fanggan Village, Laiwu City, Shandong Province

Experience the Spring Festival customs of local farmers -- eat New Year's dinner with family members of a rural household after staying up on New Year's Eve to make and put up New Year couplets, pictures and papercuts, and set off firecrackers.

Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

Time: January 5 to February 25, 2004

Sponsor: Harbin People's Government

Venues: The Harbin World of Ice and Snow; Zhaolin Park; Sun Island Scenic Area; and some 10 ski ranges.

Main activities are the Ice Lantern Art Expo in Zhaolin Park, Snow Sculpture Art Expo on Sun Island, and entertainment at the Ice and Snow World. There are in addition ice and snow merrymaking parades, swimming in frozen rivers, ice hockey, ice and snow sculpturing, skiing, and other ice and snow related sports and tour programs.

Panzhihua City in Sichuan Province hosts Yangtze River rafting all year round.