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The Hutongs in Beijing

,A hutong is an very old city alley or narrow street. There are several thousand of them in Beijing, mainly around the Forbidden City. Many were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming(1368-1628) and Qing(1644-1908) dynasties. The emperors, because they were so powerful, planned the city and arranged where people lived according to special rules. The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace -- the Forbidden City. Some hutongs had very wealthy people living in them (they were closest to the palace), and others were more simple, and ordinary people lived there.

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The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles of four houses around a square courtyard . The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents. The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and back yard. But the ordinary people's quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. Hutongs, in fact, are passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes. The specially built quadrangles all face the south for better lighting; so a lot of hutongs run from east to west.