Early Autumn in Beiping ~ Hutongs
When you're tired from walking, you find some shabby old place next to a wet market, but the French or Italian food is authentic. Push open the door and it's full of foreigners. Isn't that feeling kind of magical... We walked a lot, and I'll mention a few that left a deep impression. Houhai counts, I guess, but I won't go into it – it's a famous tourist spot now and I'm not that interested. Prince Gong's Mansion is right around Houhai, and the road to it is naturally lined with hutongs. But you'll often see rickshaw pullers hustling for customers, which can't be helped... Nanluoguxiang is another famous spot so I won't mention it – mainly because it's not interesting to talk about, and it's lost that hutong feel. Nanluoguxiang runs north-south, but there are plenty of interesting spots in the east-west directions, like Juer Hutong, and Qian and Hou Yuan'ensi Hutongs... It was around eleven at night, and we were dressed all in black, walking through the hutongs. I felt a bit scary myself, to be honest. Since it was too late, I didn't take many photos. I'll just briefly describe it. But then again, even during the day, most of the residences in these hutongs are closed to visitors. So what I find interesting, others might not enjoy – strolling around for ages with nothing to see...
Juer Hutong: In the Ming Dynasty, it belonged to Zhaohui Jinggong Ward and was called Ju'er Hutong. In the Qing Dynasty, it was under the Bordered Yellow Banner, and during the Qianlong reign it was called Ju'er Hutong (with a different character for 'ju'). No. 3, 5, and 7 Juer Hutong were the residence of Ronglu, a high official during the Guangxu reign. No. 3 was the ancestral hall, No. 5 the living quarters, and No. 7 the garden. Ronglu later moved to Dongchang Hutong. Afterwards, No. 7 served as the Afghan embassy. No. 41 was originally a temple.
Qian Yuan'ensi Hutong: In the Qing Dynasty, it was under the Bordered Yellow Banner; in the Ming, it was part of Zhaohui Jinggong Ward and called Yuan'ensi Hutong, named after the Yuan'en Temple built here. The temple was built during the Zhiyuan period of the Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt many times. West of the temple is Guangci Nunnery, where a stone tablet reads: 'Establish a universal courtyard, Yuan'en is the neighbor.'
Hou Yuan'ensi Hutong: No. 7, 'Enyuan,' was once Chiang Kai-shek's residence during the Republican era. After the founding of the PRC, it served as the Yugoslav embassy and is now the Friendship Hotel. No. 13 is Mao Dun's Former Residence, the only place you can buy a ticket to enter.
Since I was staying on Jingshan Back Street, I walked around the area several times. The hutongs inside the Second Ring Road are all well preserved, but east of Dongjixiang Hutong, it's a different story – everything's been demolished and rebuilt. I saw a few places that I first thought were hotels, because they were huge mansion-like compounds, not the scale of small courtyard houses, with wood carvings on the beams restored using traditional methods. I asked a worker and found out they were private residences, owned by very wealthy families! The land alone was bought for three hundred million back then... I just quietly drifted past... That whole huge block in the middle of the phone screen is just one household...
Dongjixiang Hutong: In the Qing Dynasty, it was part of the Imperial City, called Jixiang Hutong during Qianlong. Originally a place where palace eunuchs lived, hence the name meaning 'auspicious.' In 1947 (the 36th year of the Republic), it was called Dongjixiang Hutong, a name that persisted after 1949. Now the hutong is entirely residential. Many houses stand empty, desolate and unoccupied, while not far away there's so much bustle. A few steps further and you're at Houhai. Prosperity and decay, just a few steps apart.
Every day I craved chestnuts, since now is the best season for them. Qiulixiang isn't exactly famous through hype; nowadays you don't see it on all the 'must-visit' Beijing lists, but come this time of year, there's a queue every day. The coffee shop next door is even funnier – they have a sign saying 'No queue for our customers.' Quite the way to make money. I went and got a hot cocoa to go with the chestnuts, which made for a rather peculiar sight, I suppose.
Walking back from Qiulixiang to my place on Nianzi Hutong off Jingshan Back Street, I suddenly recalled when I first came to Beijing eight years ago. I had gone to photograph Xianyukou Hutong. Even then, it was already slated for demolition, and sure enough, it was torn down not long after...
