Imagine living in Beijing, and the first thing that comes to mind is probably huge highrises with hundreds of families living in a single building. For 80% of the population, that image is quite accurate, but for the other 20% the hutong (胡同) is the setting for daily life.
A typical hutong.
If you've seen the new Karate Kid movie, you've seen a hutong. They're basically small narrow streets occupied by small shops and traditional residences. On our trip to Houhai (后海) we visited one such hutong and toured someone's house. Upon stepping through the wooden gate, we entered a small courtyard surrounded on four sides by separate rooms. Almost immediately, the temperature dropped ten degrees due to the plethora of plants and trees planted there. The owner of the house explained that they rarely needed to rely on appliances for heating or cooling because the way the buildings were built helps self-regulate temperature.
Home sweet home.
We continued our tour through the hutong, passing by more residences and shops selling snacks, traditional clothing, communist propaganda... After leaving the narrow streets behind, we took a short walk to the Bell Tower.
Ring it and Ho-oh might appear.
The legend behind the bell says that long ago the emperor commissioned an iron-smith to build a bell for him. But for some reason, even though he'd never failed before, the smith could not get the bell to mold well. Growing impatient, the emperor threatened to put the smith to death if he couldn't complete the bell. Upon hearing this, the smith's wife threw herself into the burning hot mold, and the bell miraculously completed itself. This is a true story, of course.
After leaving the Bell Tower, we spent the rest of the time on a “pleasure boat” ride on the waters of Houhai. Each group of seven got their own personal boat complete with musicians performing on traditional Chinese instruments, and snacks and drinks. A relaxing end to the day.
The sunniest Beijing has been thus far this summer.
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