Hutong House Visit - Beijing

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In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences.   Many neighborhoods were formed by joining one residence to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighborhoods.

Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

Click on a picture to enlarge.

Hutong neighborhood Local street in the Hutong neighborhood Looking through a door to a courtyard in the Hutong neighborhood View of two-story buiding behind the street wall in the Hutong neighborhood Inside the courtyard of Madame Chong's house Madame Chong showed us around her simple house The kitchen area The sink across the room Bedroom and living room combined Madame Chong in the courtyard One water pipe for a couple of the buildings surrounding the courtyard A neighbor visiting (in the middle) Walking down a local street Walking down a local street Walking down a local street Walking down a local street lightbox gallery cmsby VisualLightBox.com v6.1