According to experts，the word Hutong originated from Mongolian language meaning”Well.”In ancient times，people tended to gather and live around wells. So the original meaning of Hutong should be”a place where people gather and live.”Another explanation says that during the Yuan Dynasty，about 13th century，residential areas in the city were divided into many divisions. Between the smaller divisions were passageways for people to travel through. And those passageways also functioned as isolation belts against fire risks. In Mongolian language，passageways of this kind were called Hutong. Nevertheless no matter what Hutong exactly means，one thing is for sure，that is，Hutong first appeared in Beijing during the Yuan Dynasty. In the early 13th century，a Mongolian tribe from the north became very strong. Led by Genghis Khan，the Mongolian occupied Beijing，the capital of the Jin Dynasty. In the year 1271，Kubla Khan，the grandson of Genghis Khan，ounded Yuan Dynasty and set Beijing as the capital city in the following year. Unfortunately，the old city was completely destroyed during the war. So they had to rebuild it. In old China，all the structures and roads were required to be symmetrical. So the city was well designed. First，they had to find a center，and then built a regular square city. The layout of the city was very much like a chessboard. About 50 residential areas were constructed，with straight roads and Hutongs between. At the time，there was a clear definition for avenue，street and Hutong. A 37-metre-wide road was called an avenue，an 18-metre-wide one was called a street，and a 9-metre-wide lane was called a Hutong. Most of today’s Hutong were formed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties that followed. Nobody knows exactly how many Hutongs there are in nowadays Beijing. Nevertheless one thing is for sure，if we connected all the Hutongs together，their total length would even be longer than the famous Great wall，which is about 4000 miles longer. Or to make it clear，it could build a highway from Seattle to Boston，all across America！

Today you can find various Hutongs with different shapes，lengths or directions.The shortest one is only 40 centimeters wide，which means a person like me has to walk sideways to get through. And some Hutongs have more than 20 turns. With the growth of the population，many old Hutongs have disappeared to make way for high-rise apartments. Today I’m very happy to show you some well-preserved Hutongs，and to let you experience the typical Chinese life. Are you ready？Let’s go！

As we walk through the Hutongs，you may find most of them look almost the same with gray-colored walls and bricks. Actually inside those walls are the courtyard houses，where people live. In Chinese we call them”siheyuan.”"Si”literally means four,”he”means to surround，and”yuan”refers to the courtyard. So a rectangular wall enclosing four houses，one built on each side facing into the center，is called a Siheyuan. When they were first built，usually one Siheyuan was owned by only one family，but nowadays，with the growth of the population，most Siheyuans are shared by 4 to 10 families.

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A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where hutongs run into the several thousand. Surrounding the Forbidden City, many were built during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. In these dynasties the emperors planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the etiquette systems. The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace — the Forbidden City.

The word “hutong” came from the Mongolian language about 700 years ago. It originates from the word “hottog” in Mongolian meaning “water well.” Where there was a spring or well, there were residents. The word “hottog” became “hutong” after it was introduced into Beijing.

Hutong means street, lane and alley, and is in fact the passage formed by lines of siheyuan (quadrangle) where most Beijing residents live. One hutong connects with another, and siheyuan connects with siheyuan, to form a block, and blocks join with blocks to form the whole city.

In old China, there was a clear definition for a street or a lane. A 36-meter-wide road was called a big street. An 18-meter-wide one was called a small street. A 9-meter-wide lane was called a hutong. The shortest one is just 10 meters long, and the narrowest hutong is only about 40 centimeters wide. Some hutong have more than 20 turns. Most of the hutongs in Beijing are in east-west or south-north directions. That has resulted from the need for houses to face south to take in more sunshine.

There are many stories and fairy tales about hutong. Near the Forbidden City, in the heart of Beijing lies a hutong called “Girl Weaver,” which is named after a fairy from the Heavenly Kingdom, who descended to the human world and married a cowherd. Her enraged father, the Celestial Emperor, took the girl back and separated the couple with the Milky Way.

Symmetrically, on the other side of the Forbidden City, there used to be a Cowherd Bridge. This arrangement seems to suggest the feudal emperors living in the Forbidden City are sons of Heaven.

In the rich and historical culture of Beijing, the hutong has a very special and important position. It is not only a kind of architecture, but also serves as a window into Beijing folk life and the “encyclopedia of the history and culture of Beijing.”

A standard siheyuan usually consists of houses on its four sides, and the house which stands at the north end and faces the south is called the “main house” or “north house,” the ones on both sides are called “side houses,” and the one which stands at the south end and faces north is called “opposite house” or “south house.”

The siheyuan’s gate is usually at the southeastern corner according to the traditional concepts of the five elements that were believed to compose the universe, and the eight diagrams of divination. Normally there is a screen wall inside the gate so the outsiders cannot see directly into the courtyard and it is also believed to protect the houses from evil spirits. Outside the gate of some large siheyuan, there is a pair of stone lions on each side. Such the residence offers space, comfort and quiet privacy. It is also good for security as well as protection against dust and storms.

The gates are usually painted vermilion and have large copper door rings. Usually the whole family lives in compound. The elder generation lives usually house, the younger generation live in the side houses, and the south house is usually their sitting room or study.

All the siheyuans, from their size and style one could tell whether they belong with private individuals or the powerful and rich. The simple house of an ordinary person has only one courtyard with the main building on the north facing, across the court, the southern building with rooms of northern exposure and flanked on the sides by the buildings of eastern and western chambers. The mansion of a titled or very rich family would have two or more courtyards, one behind another, with the main building separated from the view of the southern building by a wall with a fancy gate or by a guoting (walk-through pavilion). Behind the main building there would be a lesser house in the rear and, connected with the main quadrangle, small “corner courtyards.”

Not only residences but also ancient palaces, government offices, temples and monasteries were built basically on the pattern of the siheyuan, a common feature of traditional Chinese architecture.

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One kind of hutongs, usually termed the regular hutong, was near the palace to the east and west and arranged in orderly fashion along the streets. Most of the residents of these hutongs were imperial kinsmen and aristocrats. Another kind, the simple and crude hutong, was mostly located far to the north and south of the palace. The residents were merchants and other ordinary people.

The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles–a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard . The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents. The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and backyard. However, the ordinary people’s quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. Hutongs, in fact, are passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes. The specially built quadrangles all face the south for better lighting; as a result, a lot of hutongs run from east to west. Between the big hutongs many small ones went north and south for convenient passage.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty unified and closed China came under influence from abroad, having experienced change of dynasties and the vicissitudes of life. The stereotyped arrangement of the hutong was also affected. Many newly formed hutongs with irregular houses appeared outside the city, while many old ones lost their former neat arrangement. The social status of the residents also changed, reflecting the collapse of the feudal system. During the period of the Republic of China (1911-1948), Chinese society was unstable, with frequent civil wars and repeated foreign invasions.

The city of Beijing deteriorated, and the conditions of the hutong worsened. Quadrangles previously owned by one family became a compound occupied by many households.

After the founding of the people’s Republic of China in 1949, hutong conditions improved. In recent years, the houses in many hutongs have been pulled down and replaced by modern buildings. Many hutong dwellers have moved to new housing.

The hutong today is fading into the shade for both tourists and inhabitants.

However, in the urban district of Beijing houses along hutongs still occupy one third of the total area, providing housing for half the population, so many hutongs have survived. In this respect, we see the old in the new in Beijing as an ancient yet modern city.

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