Beijing – hutongs, traditional Chinese buildings

What are “those” hutongs that everyone talks about coming back from Beijing? Why is there a public toilet at every turn in Beijing? Are you curious? We hurry with the answers :)

We continue our walking tour of Beijing. In a previous post, we described two temples: Harmony and Peace (Lama Temple) and Confucius Temple. There was something for the soul, now something for the body ;) We went towards the hutongs, with the intention of tasting some local traditional delicacies…. although this is not the only thing one goes to these areas for :)

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What are the hutongs?

At first we thought it was such a small mansion, with a courtyard in the middle and chambers and utility rooms all around. Such a vision germinated in us when we were looking for a hotel in Beijing. We had seen pictures of one-story buildings around a nicely landscaped courtyard, and we absolutely wanted to spend the night in such a typical Chinese hutong.

However, our notion was far from the truth, if only from the point of view of the definition, which, despite appearances, is not quite so clear either.

According to some sources, these are just courtyards surrounded by houses, according to some, whole quarters of houses, and according to others, whole streets. In our opinion, hutongs should be looked at from a slightly broader perspective, as it is an entire street or avenue with traditional Chinese one-story buildings (by the way, streets have hutong in their name ;-)). Walking down such a street, every now and then one sees gates to better or worse landscaped courtyards (siheyuan) or just even narrower alleys along which there are houses. Although it is often so narrow that the bike can barely fit.

It wasn’t until we walked down a few such streets that our notion changed – these are not grazed haciendas with courtyards adorned with plants, statues or fountains. In fact, poorer citizens live here, and the houses are cramped, small, neglected…. sometimes it’s frightening to look in, as a veritable złlurks in the hallways and in the yard. Of course, we exaggerate a bit, because there are also nicer and more well-maintained hutongs, but it is the poor ones that are more memorable to us. Something like the dirty and shabby tenements in the centers of Polish cities.

The same goes for the streets where the hutongs are located. Their condition varies greatly: some are renovated, landscaped, trees are planted on the road, and some are so frightening to walk on, because you have the impression that something is about to fall on your head orzłwill trip over something. The houses are small and cramped, a lot of things are kept outside, and since the courtyard is not always big enough, things are also kept on the street. Also on the street hangs laundry, among the thousands of cables winding between poles.

What about the sewage system? Well, for a long time there was none, and hence the city relied on public toilets. You will find them at almost every turn (more often than pharmacies on a Polish housing estate, literally! ;-)). Arguably, this was easier than connecting sewers and installing toilets in every household, and with public toilets, the problem of dirt in the streets was eliminated. It depends where, but if you enter some backed-up public restroom you will quickly leave it…. Of course, where there are more tourists it is much cleaner :)

The same is also true of heating – you will rarely get central heating in any hutong home. The hostel where we stayed within the hutong simply had air conditioning and a separate portable heater. Nevertheless, it can be difficult in winter, because the doors are thin with large clearances and the windows are old and wooden, from which the cold blows terribly.

Hutong residents spend time together, use common toilets, share a courtyard, and are arguably more close-knit than those who migrated to the modern high-rise buildings being built where hutongs stood just a dozen years ago. Many hutongs have stores, restaurants, service outlets…. You could say it’s such a city within a city.

Hutongs have become a major tourist attraction and some of them are experiencing their second youth – turned into hotels, restaurants, stores, they please the eyes of visitors. We just had one of our overnight stays in Beijing in a traditional hutong, but about that another time.

Typical hutongs in Beijing

However, let’s return to our walk. We headed toward Nanluogu Xiang Street, where the outgoing streets are just such typical hutongs. The aforementioned street surprised us and at first we had the impression that it did not fit here – it is full of people, bustle, noise, neon signs, colorful signs. People crowd, shout and queue for the numerous places that provide delight to the palate.

Here we can try many interesting, international and original snacks and dishes, with most being typical street food. We were expecting typical Chinese restaurants here, and those were scarce. Baked curly potatoes, bubble tea, ice cream in bubble wafers and other 21st century inventions dominate.

We felt like we were in a trendy and happening place here, and we were immediately reminded of a neighborhood in Tokyo – Harajuku. In addition to food, you can also stock up on gifts, Chinese tea, china, etc. here. However, once you stop looking only at the storefronts, it’s an interesting combination of tradition and modernity, as there are still a lot of buildings that have retained their traditional look.

Despite appearances, we liked this crowded street. We like such places, where you can see a lot of residents, what they are really into and interested in. We caught ourselves standing for a few minutes in front of the window serving ice cream, not to try to understand the menu, but we watched as people’s first thing after getting ice cream was to immediately take a picture and cycle to their blocked internets ;) We couldn’t have been worse ;)

However, if you are not turned on by such an atmosphere, we have good news: fortunately, the side streets are a completely different world. Turning into a side street, it’s much quieter and calmer, as the mainstream is still flowing along Nanluog Xiang. Here you can take a break from the noise and watch the low-rise buildings, the gates to the courtyards, and maybe you can even peek into one?

Interestingly, these streets are very guarded. There are guards standing on the corners, including at the entrances to the hutongs (sometimes we even had the impression that they wanted to search us, but they never even stopped us).

The most beautiful hutongs?

We especially recommend you to bounce towards the small river flowing along Dongbuyaqiao Hutong Street, and then continue walking until you reach the lake(Qianhai). It was one of the biggest surprises in Beijing!

We suddenly ended up in a completely different place – renovated streets and sidewalks, a flowing river, white romantic bridges and beautiful flowering white and pink trees.