The word hutong comes from the Mongolian language. Little has changed in the layout of Beijing since the Yuan dynasty. In Beijing they broke the city walls for the purpose of the traffic, this is a great pity. You can build a modern city close to Beijing but you cannot bring back all the historic sites. In the old days the second ring road was the city wall. The only way we can save the historic sites is you reducing the population. It is hard to bring hutongs back with such a large population. The hutongs are naturally formed. They are the space between two lines of houses. In the old times rich people lived in them. One yard belonged to one family, now lots of families share one yard. It is very crowded to live together like that.

There is a cultural change taking place as people move from hutongs to buildings. People are starting to close themselves up in little units; there is less communication. A little joke I have is that we live in boxes while we are alive and when we are dead. Young people like to live in buildings [high-rise apartments]. It is clean, convenient, and people have space to themselves. There are fewer and fewer hutongs than before. More buildings are been built because of the growth in population. An old Chinese philosophy is that humans cannot live without earth, if people live in a place above the earth it is not healthy. There are five basic elements: fire, wood, earth, metal, and water. Earth is the middle and most essential of these five basic elements. The Hutongs are on the earth, not above it.

The old people do not want to live in buildings; it is not convenient for them to live in buildings. The old people don’t feel lonely in hutongs. In buildings each door is locked — to talk to people you have to knock on the door. In the hutong the doors are left open, people feel welcome. When the young people go to work the old people are lonely in buildings. Furthermore, it is not convenient for the old people to walk down those stairs and go to the stores. In the hutongs the stores are just there. There is more for the old people to do. The only conveince that old people find in buildings is that they do not have to go outside to take a wash. In the hutongs there are public restrooms, and they are not so clean. The government cleans them, but Chinese restrooms are just not so clean. The government cleans the toilet at least once a week. Because there is no money we have bad toilets, they are working on building nicer toilets. The only thing that old people find convenient about living in a building is the toilets. Each family has a basin which we use to wash ourselves.

Today common people live in hutongs. Some hutongs are famous for the famous people who lived in them. The Beijing people are proud of the hutongs. The problem is that we have not space because of the population. If there is not enough room to house the people , there {will be] no more hutongs.

Many aspects of the door of the house are significant about the house. The stone tablets at the entrance have many purposes. It was used for guards to sit on in old days; this was only for rich men. It was also used as help for rich men to get off their horse, after they rode home on a horse. It is also decoration to show the status of a family. The high officials have a different shape stone. The common people have smaller stones. The roof paintings and the gate, too, will tell you the persons rank. Another symbol of wealth is the knocking ring on the door. As you walk into a hutong there is a decorated wall. This is for safety and to stop evil spirits. In the yard there is a basin for gold fish, a pomegranate tree, a weeping willow. You never plant an Arborvitae tree, because that tree is for the dead. These trees are in the Temple of Heaven.

The government has put an effort into making the hutongs look better and neater. Before there were dustbins [trash cans] along the streets, but the government did not think this was clean enough. So now every evening a dustman will come with and tricycle to collect the [trash from individual hutongs]. A truck will collect all the trash.

In the hutongs we have committees. Each committee looks over the hutong in their area. It deals with safety issues and it also manages child registration.

The bricks on the walls of the hutongs are always gray; even when they restore the hutongsand they use red bricks, they paint them gray. Originally, the bricks were gray, but those are too expensive today. My house was originally lived in by one of the princes (one of the emperor’s brothers). This plaque on the door says that a king used to live there and that this hutong needs to be preserved. The bricks in this house are the original gray bricks from the Qing dynasty. On the roof you will see some yellow, that shows that a prince lived here. The prince that lived in this house lived here during the early period or the Qing dynasty and has blood from Mongolia. As you can see, my house has a high roof, this is because my house was not for commoners. We also have a toilet in our house.

We got this house because my grandfather was in the revolutionary war against the Japanese. This house was a prize for him. People who fought got treated better that those who did not fight. Those who helped to rebuild the New China have a higher political position. Just like the Emperor gave this house to the Prince, the government gave this house to those who sacrificed a lot for their country.

My father’s brothers live in the other houses in the courtyard. My dad’s sister lives in the courtyard. My grandfather got the whole courtyard because he has such a big family. The whole family lives together, that is a Chinese tradition. On the Chinese New Year the whole family, all the brothers and sisters eat together. Otherwise, just the smaller family units eat together.

Maybe, since I live in such a nice place, I like living in the hutongs. We planted the trees in our courtyard when we are children. They are our trees. In buildings the rooms are smaller, we could never have our own trees. In buildings people do not have an opportunity to communicate with each other, they all stick in their houses. You cannot ever find such a nice house here in Beijing. We cannot change the yard it is culturally preserved by the government. We can only change the inside. Since the roof is made of wood, it is cool in the summer. We have made our house more modern, but we have kept some parts of the original walls. They have beautiful woodcarvings on it like in the Forbidden City. The low windows with beautiful carvings are similar to the style in the Forbidden City. This is not a common person’s house. This house is historic but it is not open to the public. The last emperor, Puyi, and his mother’s sister lived in this house. One of his relatives came here a few years ago to look at this house.

In Chinese buildings if there is something on the left then there will be the same thing on the right. It is balanced. There are many gates in the courtyard and into our house so we have to lock it. It is not that we have a problem with thieves, but it is just for safety.

This house belongs to the government, it is a gift for my grandparents. It is a historical site that is preserved by the government, and individual cannot buy it. So I will probably not inherit this house. If my husband has a nice hutong like this one I would like to live in a hutong house. Other wise I would like to live in a building.

The young people do not care about the hutongs, the old people care a lot. They have lived in the alleys all their lives. They like living by the Emperors City. Maybe my grandparents know many of our neighbors, but I don’t know the people around my area. In the summer, people like to walk outside much more. They like to play in the yards at nice.

Old people want to live in houses (hutongs) because it gives them connections. Middle aged people like living in buildings because it has more space. If a building has more space than their hutong they will willingly move into a building.

I like living in a hutong because I love having a yard. In buildings the sunshine is not that bright. The best thing is the communication with the people. You can go in a visit people without knocking on the door. In buildings it is difficult to go down the stairs so life is less convenient. You cannot visit many people.

Only the old people know the source of the names of the alleys. The emperor’s relatives lived in these hutongs. One of the emperor’s wives who was thrown into a cell lived here. This alley name is square brick alley. The factories for the square bricks in the Forbidden City were made here. Only the Forbidden City can have square bricks. We are not sure where exactly the factory is located. The shape of the alley names some of the alleys.

I like living in hutongs its much more convenient. I can come here and take my blood pressure instead of going to the hospital. You can communicate with others and that is a great convenience. We can help each other and go out without locking the doors. In a building if a person leaves the door unlocked it is very unsafe.

I have lived in these hutongs for 60 years. I do not care much about the change in culture. Yes, I like to live in the hutongs. It is more convenient if you want to buy something or go out. The only inconvenience is if you want to go to the toilet. But now there are many more toilets so that is better. The only convenience of a building is the toilets, but that is not a major inconvenience for me.

My house belongs to the government. Earlier I used to rent the entire yard, but now since there are fewer people in my family I only rent three rooms. My home is more private than the other homes. Before my house had a high roof but we had to make the ground higher so it is not so spacious and nice like the house here.

There are some famous people who live in this area. A famous Artist, a famous Table Tennis Player his name is Zhung Ze Dong, and the youngest wife of Puyi still lives in one of the houses here. Since this is in the Dong Chung district many scholars used to live here. Many relatives of the Emperor used to live here. During the Qing Dynasty this was considered the north side of the city, since the city has expanded it has been renamed Dong Chung district.

I have worked here for ten years. I like my job. At first, I was not satisfied because it was not looked up on but I had already retired and I was not ready to stop working. I wanted to do something for others so I came to work here. I am in charge of welfare. If people loose their jobs, I inform the government and they give them money. I work especially with soldiers’ families, and with people who are incapable. I take care of them. There are several people who work here, we each have our own duty but we can work together.

I like the way the city is changing. But if they do not change this area, I will be very happy. I want this area to stay the same way; I don’t ever want to live in a building. I will be very lonely in a building.