Beijing Hutongs  Part One

On Sunday I visited some of the better maintained hutongs (alleys)  in the northern area of Beijing between the Forbidden City and the lakes.

I took the subway to the closest station and intended to walk.   However, one of the rickshaw drivers gave me an offer I didn’t feel like refusing  so I arranged to be dropped at my destination.  Of course there is always a catch or two.  The rickshaw wasn’t a rickshaw but a 3 wheeler vehicle, he took me to places where I could spend money and afterwards tried to grossly overcharge me.  Despite that he was a rather likeable rouge.

We stopped outside  a couple of buildings which were famous for something but the language barrier got in the way.

This was one of them.

View through the open gate.  Additional buildings have been added since the  original design.

Another view through the gate.  The power boards indicate the large number of households living in the compound.  Compounds differ in size although none like this seemed overly large.

One of the hutongs with mother and child.  This cross between a wheeled skateboard and a bike is popular with littlies.

One of a pair of carved marble pieces at the entrance to a gate.  It is new as most are very worn.  

Gate knocker

The entrance

There was even room for a garage.

Bird on a pole in the street. 

There were two sets of pole perches for the birds set amid the remains of a potted garden.  The red object at the end is a rickshaw.

Entrance to a porcelain shop.

Some of the porcelain on display

The birds were moved andwere now sunning themselves in the open area near the Bell Tower.

The Bell Tower.  The Drum Tower is connected to it by the same paving  and is a short distance away.  They were used for marking time in ancient Beijing.

This the back of the Drum Tower at dusk from the street behind it.

I was taken to a courtyard home behind one of the hutong gates where residents are prepared to be disturbed for a price.  These courtyards are called shiheyuan.

Another view of the courtyard and some of the buildings.  The round  marble object at the bottom of the picture is part of an old weight lifting bar.

One whole building had been retained as a memorial to the past.  The elderly woman in the picture who showed me around is standing in front of family photos.  Her grandfather had been a general in the Chinese army early last century and they had lived in the courtyard.  She had bilingual signs for all items of note.  While the courtyard had not had much building added to it there were about four power boards at its entrance.

The driver then dropped me at my intended destination.