It’s Happening at the Hutongs!

Beijing is a huge city with over 20 million people. As one wanders through it, there are numerous narrow streets and alleyways all over the place. Many of them lead up to some very large doors that open up into traditional courtyard communities. In the past, a family would build their home and then join the roof of their house to their neighbours. This would create a connected row of residences to make up a community. These connected communities became known as “hutongs”.

During the Ming dynasty (15^th C), the Forbidden City was built in the middle of Beijing and the residential area was planned and built in rings around it. The location of a hutong told people a lot about a family’s social status. The closer you were to the Forbidden City’s centre – the higher your social status. Most of the hutongs were built East to West to capture the natural light, while the alleys and throughways run North/South.

While living in the hutongs, many unmarried women did not leave their gates as it was not considered proper. For this reason in order for couples to meet and get married – the doors of their hutong told their story. For example, the number of beams at the top of your roof as well as the number of steps leading up to the door indicated your social status. The more beams/steps – the higher the standing. Furthermore, there would usually be stone statues on either side of the steps. If they were drums, it would indicate a family connected to the military, while if there were books, it would indicate a family of scholars. If there were a number of families with eligible brides of the same standing – the final decision would be made by the size of the girls’ feet. The smaller the foot the more beautiful a woman was considered, which is why binding was such a large part of the Chinese culture.

4 Beams and books – high standing

This family were scholars!

4 Beams and Drums

This family was from the military

Many of these traditional communities were destroyed when the cultural revolution came about as the government demolished them to make way for wider streets and more modern buildings. Our tour guide Leo grew up in a hutong, but had to leave when the government decided to replace it with an office building. His family was moved to a new apartment further outside of the city.  Although they were happy with the modern amenities, the family was sad to lose their social network. Thankfully, nowadays many of the hutongs are now being protected for their heritage.

While in Beijing, we had the fabulous opportunity to stay at a hutong on the second ring with owners Cindy and Nick. The hutong originally belonged to Cindy’s great-grandmother who purchased it before the revolution 4 generations ago. The couple have done a fabulous job renovating and restoring it and have now opened it up as apartments for travellers on Air BnB.

Staying at a hutong while visiting Beijing was incredible and really added to our authentic travelling experience. The property consists of a number of small homes all connected together with gorgeous courtyards and rooftop patios. We were there in the early Spring and can only imagine what it looks like when all the trees and flowers are in full bloom. Our little house was 2 bedrooms and had a western style bathroom:) We shared a common kitchen and could use any of the facilities on the property. It was really neat to explore the community and just imagine how it was hundreds of years ago.

Homeschooling in the hutong!

Upper patios for relaxing!

One of 22 rooms!

The courtyards

Our room!

Cindy and Nick (who is Greek!) live permanently at the hutong and are lots of fun. We enjoyed their company and learned so much about the Chinese culture from them. We now know how to run an ATM counterfeit scam, how we could use our kids for child labour and how knock offs are considered to be a form of flattery:) Oh yes – and we learned that beams no longer indicate social standing…it’s how many Western toilets you have in your hutong!

Our neighbours while we were there included a family from France, and couples from Germany, Vancouver and Quebec. All of us had a great time sitting in the courtyards and sharing travel stories and tips on how to navigate the big city and the culture.

Overall, we had an amazing time in Beijing and at this hutong. We really want to thank Cindy and Nick for everything…we met as strangers and left as friends! We hope to meet them one day again in Canada – or in Beijing…there’s still more for us to see!