Day 4: The Hutongs of Beijing

Learning to make dumplings
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Our last day in Beijing!

No trip to Beijing can be complete without cycling on the streets of Beijing. Beijing has over 9 million bicycles and we rented two of them this morning! It was a lot of fun (and actually quite safe) to cycle on Beijing’s streets. They have wide lanes reserved for cyclists.

Hutongs are Beijing’s oldest residential neighbourhoods (or subdivisions). Essentially, each hutong is a series of houses that are connected together creating long narrow alleyways.

Beijing Bicycle
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The only time it gets tricky is when you’re crossing intersections – that’s when you have to negotiate your way around pedestrians, motorists and other cyclists. Missy seemed to be a natural at this.  She navigated the streets with ease and even took stops along the way to pet dogs that were out on their morning walk.

I’d done this kind of commuting years ago in my own hometown in Bombay with a sense of fearlessness that only locals can have. After so many years of living in Canada, I had lost that knack and, will admit, that I was a teensy bit nervous maneuvering myself through the chaotic urban jungle that was Beijing.

A quiet stretch on an otherwise busy street
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Two hours later, we were back in our hotel, all checked out and ready for our hutong tour. Hutongs are Beijing’s oldest residential neighbourhoods (or subdivisions). Essentially, each hutong is a series of houses that are connected together creating long narrow alleyways. Once you enter a hutong you notice that it is actually a quadrangle with a courtyard in the centre and rooms on the side. B

Back in the 12^th century, a hutong would have housed a single family who would maintain their home and their quiet sanctum of a private courtyard. The rank and class of the owner of a hutong will determine how the entrance of the hutong is decorated. A high ranking officer in the government have, for example, would have 4 beams outside his door (as in the picture) and would also have sculptures of sacred animals outside. A working class citizen would only have two beams outside his door and can only use plain sculptures outside his home. A civil servant would have a long rectangular sculpture – with a scroll and quill on it – signifying his rank as a paper pusher. A lower ranking army officer, on the other hand, would have a sculpture showing a drum roll and arms signifying his loyalty to the call of duty. To decorate your hutong outside your class meant serious repercussions and often led to the defaulting hutong owner’s execution.

Making Friends
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Most importantly, only the emperor was allowed to have nine beams outside his home and only the emperor could use lion sculptures. That said, no emperor lived in a hutong but we did see many lion sculptures all around the Forbidden city and various other imperial buildings. These days, of course anyone can use the lions including some of the modern refurbished hutongs. They’re one of the three sacred feng shui animals. The lion signifies power and wealth and so you see those sculptures outside most hotels and financial institutions in modern China.

Hutong example - This one would have belonged to a rich businessman or high ranking officer. Notice the lion sculptures and the four beams on the doorway.
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The hutong tour was interesting as the pedicab driver took us through various twisting alleys. There aren’t very many hutongs left in Beijing as most have been cleared to make way for modern high-rises and fancy malls. A few have been preserved by the government for and heritage reasons. Hutongs are now occupied by various families. The various rooms within a hutong are configured as a small apartment and are offered as subsidized housing to certain eligible working classes (most of whom then end up renting it to other workers or students).

A more modest hutong. Note the two beams on the doorway and the simple rectanugular sculptures.
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Also, hutongs are a great source of tourism revenue. Just along the Hutongs is a narrow waterway and there are dozens of tiny bars that dot the waterfront. There are hundreds of street vendors peddling everything from tacky souvenirs to fake rolex watches. Luckily, we were in our pedicab so we didn’t get harassed too much by the peddlers. If you think you want to enjoy a quiet walk along the water – you can forget about that. You will be swarmed by little kids asking for money or someone trying to entice you with fake louis vitton bags.

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Our tour of the hutongs included a visit to a local Chinese family in their home. This was the best part of the tour. We were ushered into a simple hutong and led to the home of Mrs. Jung. Mrs. Jung looked like she was in her late forties and she greeted us warmly. She had been busy preparing lunch for us.

On the menu, among other things, was Chinese dumplings and these we were supposed to cook with her! She explained the process and missy took to it in no time. She got to work and prepared close to a dozen dumplings which she then immersed in boiling water and Mrs. Jung then strained and served to us. They were delicious!! There were many other dishes – the local fare- and it was much better than a lot of our other, more elaborate, meals.

Dumpling Diva
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Over lunch, we chatted a bit with Mrs. Jung. She has been living in this hutong for over 40 years. Aside from visits to a few family members in the south of china she hasn’t done any traveling at all. She started taking in tourists and entertaining them over lunch as a means to supplement her family’s income but now loves doing this just for the opportunities it presents to her to meet people from all over the world.

We thanked her for her hospitality and for the lovely food. Missy was busy in the courtyard chasing two of Mrs. Jung’s cats. There were graceful felines. One had such striking eyes and they were both different colours. One was grey and the other was blue. Apparently, that’s not uncommon among cats in China.

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We left the hutongs and made our way to the airport. Next stop, Xi’an!