Only 50 years ago, Beijing had about 3,200 hutongs, but today there are only 990. In Xicheng District along, from the 1960s to the 1990s more than 260 hutongs were cleared.
Some older citizens worry that without these hutongs can Beijing still be called Beijing?
In their eyes, the disappearance of hutongs means the disappearance of a period of history, a cordial lifestyle, and even the disappearance of Beijing itself.
They even hold that Beijing is represented by two sections: the imperial gardens represented by the Forbidden City and the hutongs. It is the gray walls and tiles of the siheyyuan (couryard dwellings) that make the Forbidden City look splendid in gree and gold, and it is the flat buildings in the imposing. The two bring out the best in each other, but the courtyard dwellings in the hutongs are the more typical of the two.
As Shu Yi, the deputy curator of the China Contemporary Literature Museum, said, if most of the courtyard dwellings and hutongs in Beijing are replaced by high-rise buildings, where can people find traces of Beijing's history as a 3,000-year-old city and a 1,000-year old capital? At the most, it can only be another version of Hong Kong, Tokyo or New York.
Mr. Zheng Yiming: After a history of hundreds of years, hutongs in Beijing carry a great deal of important information of Beijing history. At the same time, hutong is also an important symbol of Beijing. Therefore, hutong is worth of preservation.
In order to keep the style of Beijing as an ancient capital city, many famous hutongs have been persevered as cultural relics. In Beijing, more than 20 hutongs have been selected as streets of cultural and historical interests for preservation. The damages in those hutongs have also been repaired and their original appearances have been restored step by step.Therefore, the key issue is to find a rational way to balance the preservation of an ancient city and modernization.
Hutong has witnessed the life of elder Beijingers and also is part of the life of modern Beijing residents. Although many hutongs still keep their original names, their appearances have changed a lot. Should we remove or keep ancient aging buildings? To what extent should we preserve them? Conflicts like these do not only exist in the preservation of hutongs in Beijing.
Beijing Attractions
Beijing's Hutongs
Hutong culture History
Protection of Hutong
Famous Hutongs Nanluoguxiang (Nanluoguxiang Hutong, 南锣鼓巷)
Beijing Liulichang Culture Street
One Day Hutong Tour
Chinese people are familiar with the character "拆Chai", which means to tear down. When this character appears on the walls of a building everybody knows that its doomsday is near. A century ago, people who lived in hutongs would never have imagined that this cruel word would be painted on the walls of their courtyards and hutongs one day.