A Hutong Discussion

jhf0551

The following is a hutong discussion promoted by me on a Chinese history oriented forum:

Me:

As Beijing has been the capital of China for more than 800 years, its architecture style is supreme throughout China. Please do not consider Beijing as just an "Imperial City". It in fact, is a more "civilian" city. Hutong or alley way is the kernel of Beijing's culture. 6 |9 H; m& g- n. N8 DAccording to some books, there were 1,200 hutongs in Yuan Dynasty, # h, r1 p# e+ Z' r! U% D# u3,600 hutongs in Ming Dynasty, and over 6,000 hutongs at the end of Manchu Qing Dynasty. Most of the hutongs are well preserved until 1999.

Within 5 ?( p7 x* r. P& E6 lhutongs, the citizens maintain a good neighborhood relationship among . X Z# o7 R9 I9 ^6 j& ]each other. Senior citizens play Chinese chess or listen to Peking Opera 9 B# |, A C5 s% J4 cand Pingju. Children play outside. The atmosphere in hutong is harmonious. The architectural styles of hutong are diverse, but all are $ |: e1 _" Y9 P' o9 h, W: ydescended from traditional Chinese culture. Many great events and forms of culture emerged in hutong.

I 0 {/ e: s+ o( ~$ A) J# t! q: fwas born in Beijing hutong. My childhood leaves me a great + B* Z/ ]7 L5 o7 Y* g3 O2 Eimpression. In 1990, the hutong where my home stood was demolished, / X4 a0 Z: l' U; x2 pand we have to move into residential skyscrapers. You know, this hutong . a/ }! ]$ c+ U% h: _1 `has a history of more than 400 years!

Since 1999, the demolishment of hutong has been a common thing in Beijing. There has been said that 5 |1 s9 h2 C" Y7 N/ Tno hutongs will stand after 2008. Many people from outside Beijing are only enthusiastic in "enjoying" skyscrapers, they consider hutong as a 5 t0 V9 a- R+ E: q5 f0 t2 ?sort of under modernized structure. They, along with the government want to demolish them and replace them with meaningless skyscrapers. In 2004, more than 10,000 households in hutongs were forced to move to the suburbs. The official reason of "Hutong Demolish Movement" is "modernization", or "preparing for the Olympic Games", but in fact, 5 R* z* m- @; n3 Qthis movement has nothing to do with the modernization and Olympics: citizens in hutong are still living in compact apartment cells, Olympic Games will still be held in Beijing if four-combinations still stand.

Kimchee:

I think it's ashame how historical sights are destroyed due to "progress." But, it unfortunately happens all over the world to make ; Y/ W/ D: r( w1 h2 Vmoney for big business... including the very town I live in. There was a beautiful Methodist Church that was demolished to make way for a parking lot... it was built in the early 1700's. The graveyard across 2 ?7 M: d7 A6 Ithe street is still there, but I thought it was a crime to do this.

Ashura:

While I do agree and support the perservation of properties of cultural 4 i4 s7 `2 n$ p6 h5 q6 timportance , I also support that some hutongs have to be torn down for $ ]% {1 |+ [5 P2 y7 adevelopment.

Hutongs in the old days were residential area where people actually lived there. The same cannot be said for today because the living conditions in hutongs are not up to standard. The houses within the hutongs do not have plumbing and electricity, and if you want to install that, you will have to pay a high cost in building a system just for the hutongs. 8 u, P( ^8 ~% [% H/ WFurthermore, the style of the houses, four combination, is out of date ( `! S# X2 r; m8 `. M/ Wto support the mobile population in modern day Beijing. The houses used 6 k: f) T \ `to hold a whole family within them, while modern apartments and houses support a nucleus family. That said, the hutongs are economically unfeasible for ordinary people. I for one, do not see the reason to live in a hutong with the traditional houses. Losing its main purpose, ( l0 l( ]( o( M$ n* }: e. shutong is only a tourist attraction.

The best way to find the balance between development and cultural perservation is to confine the project into a district. Within this district, the hutongs should be ) {, \7 ^' O! hrenovated to show the old face of Beijing. They should build a Hutong # ^" e, y4 ^6 v AMuseum and allow people to actually walk into the houses to see how + \: V6 H% D4 ~people lived in them. The hutongs outside of the district should be torn down or transformed into something else.

TwinkieDP:

I'm sorry that your cherished memories of Old Beijing is being destroyed in the Path of "progress". 1 _0 g+ k4 M$ C, pNothing against preservation of Hutongs, but I think my feelings are aligned with Ashura's. When people outside of China (especially 3 |# w9 Q, b3 @3 \ \1 ]+ lnon-Chinese) think about the Cultural treasures of Beijing, the image of the Hutongs is hardly brought up. I've seen pictures of these 6 j1 n' H9 l+ jHutongs, and I'm sure these peaceful neighborhoods mean a lot to those & ~0 [6 e+ w* }: E% J& hpeople who have lived their for generations, but to the outsider they 9 t1 a5 J5 z; l Bmay appear to be outdated and substandard living quarters. I agree some 9 w8 l2 ~0 i1 m% a$ W2 pof the cultural aspects showing how ordinary people lived before 7 @$ Y0 n( ^. q7 w, ~3 Q& b# F"modernization" should be preserved, but living standards for all people needs to continually improve. Am I saying that high-rise ) T6 b+ z; O4 y! O* r# `apartments are the way to go? No. 7 d: ?: C1 d" y X3 ?5 b " u* M5 R0 X* E

Howard Fu:

I have great sympathy for you and Beijing's old Hutongs.
But the ) o: }2 f5 l5 ]situation is sad. There are big economy interest behind this 'progress'. Real estate businessmen and government officials would make ' o$ t1 ~0 r4 ano money if they leave all the hutongs there. And they are moving so fast, there will be no hutong left after 2008 before any significant resistant opinion formed. This 'progress' is unlikely to stop unless Beijing's estate market have a sudden dive before 2008 which is ! V0 e, G. t# Wunlikely to happen too. Sad!

桉草

Excuse me. May I use ur discussion in my dissertation about Beijing Conservation?
Thx a lot!!