Hutong Old Lanes of Beijing

Hutongs are residential areas in Chinese cities that appeared in ancient times. In appearance from above, they resemble an intricate labyrinth of narrow streets and oblong courtyards, the gates in which are necessarily located on the east or south side, in order to give as much light and heat to their inhabitants as possible. Nevertheless, in the general scheme of the Hutuns, there is a clear pattern of lines and paths, which, unfortunately, can be understood more often only by the indigenous inhabitants of such buildings. Initially, the emergence of the Hutong was dictated by the dependence of the Beijingers on water. The origin of the word "hutun" is still debated, but it is generally assumed that it came from the Mongolian "hot" - "well" and "hudu" or "hudun" - "camp" or "village", since earlier the well is also the settlement around it. Later, the word was applied to small streets, and the sound changed greatly to "hutun".

Beijing Hutongs provide insight into the lives of ordinary people both in the past and in the present. Hutongs are actually streets or alleys that exist only in Beijing.

In the past, the inequality of the different classes of society was clear at first glance at human habitation: imperial families lived in the Forbidden City under yellow roofs, princes and princes lived in mansions under green roofs, rich people in shieyuan and common people in modest buildings, which often housed several families.

Hutongs, like other Beijing streets, are oriented, as a rule, either from north to south or from west to east. In the broad meridian-oriented Hutuns to the west and east of the palace settled the palace veil and noble estate. The houses in these alleys are decorated with magnificent carvings and are distinguished by a majestic style. The narrow and crooked hutongs were more easily located north and south of the palace.

On both sides of the hutong stretch the rows of shheyuan - traditional Beijing quadrangular residential buildings of yard type. Since the Shiheyuan was predominantly orientated by the entrance to the south, most of the Hutuns stretched from west to east. Wide hutongs are usually connected by small alleys for ease of movement.

Social instability, civil war, the Cultural Revolution, and the generally unfavourable urban environment have all negatively affected the quality of Beijing Hutongs.

Today, Beijing is developing rapidly, multi-storey buildings grow like mushrooms after the rain, but hutongs are still an integral part of capital life. Hutongs still make up a third of the urban area built up for housing, almost half of Beijing residents live in Hutongs.

Hutong is a living history of Beijing.