Beijing Hutong

One of the most memorable places to visit in Beijing is Hutong. Hutong is a narrow and deep alley and was a common architecture in Old Beijing. A typical Hutong can barely fit a ricksaw or two bicycles side by side. Residents live behind the Hutong wall through a small door on the side of the Hutong.

Most of Beijing residents lived in Hutong before 1980's, including my family. I grew up in a small Hutong until age of 3 when my family moved into an apartment building. My grandmother continued to live in the same Hutong until the mid 90's when my mom exchanged the place with a bigger apartment. Today, my mom and I went back to look for this Hutong. Unfortunately it has been demolished and replaced with a government office.

Later in the day, we took a Hutong tour behind Beihai Park by a tricycle. Many of the Hutongs in that area have been well preserved and open to public. I learned that one can tell the type of people who live in the house simply by looking at the decorations on the door frame and the lion statue in front of the door step. For example, the number of blue studs indicate the rank of the government official. The more studs, the higher the rank. Also, the lion statue at the door step means that the owner of the house is part of the royal family. The shape of the stand underneathe the lion indicates the type of the government official: round means art and the square means army.