Top ten of Beijing in my eyes:Hutong tour and Beijing
Top ten of Beijing in my eyes:Hutong tour and Beijing snacks
Existed as early as hundreds of years ago, narrow lanes, or hutongs were common in ancient Beijing. In the past, several thousand lanes, alleys and quadrangles formed residential areas for ordinary people living in the capital. Today,as the city develops into an international metropolis, its lanes and alleyways, occupying one third of the city proper, still serve as dwellings for half the total urban population.
I would like to start with the term‘Hutong’, H-U-T-O-N-G what does Hutong mean?According to experts, the word Hutong originated from Mongolian language meaning ‘Well’. In ancient times, people tended to gather and live around wells. So the original meaning of Hutong should be‘a place where people gather and live.’Another explanation says that during the Yuan Dynasty, about 13th century, residential areas in the city were divided into many divisions. Between the smaller divisions were passageways for people to travel through. And those passageways also functioned as isolation belts against fire risks. In Mongolian language, passageways of this kind were called Hutong. But no matter what Hutong exactly means, one thing is for sure, that is, Hutong first appeared in Beijing during the Yuan Dynasty.In the early 13th century, a Mongolian tribe from the north became very strong. Led by Genghis Khan, the Mongolian occupied Beijing, the capital of the Jin Dynasty. In the year 1271, Kubla Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, ounded Yuan Dynasty and set Beijing as the capital city in the following year. Unfortunately, the old city was completely destroyed during the war. So they had to rebuild it. In old China, all the structures and roads were required to be symmetrical. So the city was well designed. First, they had to find a center, and then built a regular square city. The layout of the city was very much like a chessboard. About 50 residential areas were constructed, with straight roads and Hutongs in between.
At the time, there was a clear definition for avenue, street and Hutong. A 37-metre-wide road was called an avenue, an 18-metre-wide one was called a street, and a9-metre-wide lane was called a Hutong.Most of today’s Hutong were formed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties that followed. Nobody knows exactly how many Hutongs there are in nowadays Beijing. But one thing is for sure, if we connected all the Hutongs together, their total length would even be longer than the famous Great wall, which is about 4000 miles longer. Or to make it clear, it could build a highway from Seattle to Boston, all across America!Today you can find various Hutongs with different shapes, lengths or directions.The shortest one is only 40 centimeters wide, which means a person like me has to walk sideways to get through. And some Hutongs have more than 20 turns.
With the growth of the population, many old Hutongs have disappeared to make way for high-rise apartments. If you visit some well-preserved Hutongs, and let you experience the typical Chinese life.
A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where hutongs run into the several thousand. Surrounding the Forbidden City, many were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming(1368-1628) and Qing(1644-1908) dynasties. In the prime of these dynasties the emperors, in order to establish supreme power for themselves, planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the etiquette systems of the Zhou Dynasty. The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace — the Forbidden City.
One kind of hutongs, usually referred to as the regular hutong, was near the palace to the east and west and arranged in orderly fashion along the streets. Most of the residents of these hutongs were imperial kinsmen and aristocrats. Another kind, the simple and crude hutong, was mostly located far to the north and south of the palace. The residents were merchants and other ordinary people
The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles–a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard . The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents. The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and back yard. However, the ordinary people’s quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. hutongs, in fact, are passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes. The specially built quadrangles all face the south for better lighting; as a result, a lot of hutongs run from east to west. Between the big hutongs many small ones went north and south for convenient passage.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty unified and closed China came under influence from abroad, having experienced change of dynasties and the vicissitudes of life. The stereotyped arrangement of the hutong was also affected. Many newly formed hutongs with irregular houses appeared outside the city, while many old ones lost their former neat arrangement. The social status of the residents also changed, reflecting the collapse of the feudal system. During the period of the Republic of China (1911-1948), Chinese society was unstable, with frequent civil wars and repeated foreign invasions.
The city of Beijing deteriorated, and the conditions of the hutong worsened. Quadrangles previously owned by one family became a compound occupied by many households.
After the founding of the people’s Republic of China in 1949, hutong conditions improved. In recent years, the houses in many hutongs have been pulled down and replaced by modern buildings. Many hutong dwellers have moved to new housing.
The hutong today is fading into the shade for both tourists and inhabitants.However, in the urban district of Beijing houses along hutongs still occupy one third of the total area, providing housing for half the population, so many hutongs have survived. In this respect, we see the old in the new in Beijing as an ancient yet modern city.
A new pastime — roaming through Beijing’s old, narrow streets, hutongs, by old-fashioned pedicab to visit siheyuan, the old quadrangles, and learn about the daily life of ordinary Beijing citizens– has attracted more and more overseas visitors.
You probably wonder why some senior citizens over there are wearing red-colored armbands. They are actually the voluntary neighborhood watch. And their armbands say “On Duty”. If you think they are too old to be a professional security guard, you are wrong. Believe me, justbecause of these lovely Grandmas, this area has been a peaceful and safe place for many years. And if you don’t believe it, you’d better not test them!
The main attraction of Hutong life is friendly and interpersonal communication. Children living in one courtyard play together and grow up together like one big family. So now our government is trying to preserve such Hutong area in Beijing. Without permission, nobody is allowed to tear down old houses to build high-rise apartments.We want to save it as a treasure to show our later generations what Beijing used to be like.
Beijing with more than 2,000 years of history of the city, has been established for several countries, which has deep cultural heritage, restaurants and cultural city is an important part of culture, and in local snack food culture in the most representative. Beijing snacks have a long history, it once brilliant, in the heyday of as many as 600 species. But with the passage of time, Beijing snacks after ordeal, and its status is not compare past until now.because of the emergence of nine-door snacks chophouse, Beijing snacks once again become the focus of attention, and to the revitalization of Beijing snacks road ignited a hope. f you get the original traditional Beijing snacks you were to many places.But now these snacks are concentrated to a place.This place is nine-door snack chophouse.If you’re a food lover，If you want to explore the snacks about the ancient of Beijing,then you must come here nine-door snack chophouse.I have introduced a number of traditional snacks you can eat here.You can also eat some snacks I have not introduced.
Do you like Beijing snacks?You must tell me your feeling.
Tags: alleyways, hundreds of years, Hutong tour, hutongs, international metropolis, place where people, quadrangles, snacks in Beijing