Back Lakes Hutong

After lunch on Sunday we visited the Hutong in the back lakes area of Beijing. Hutong means 'alley'. Ancient Beijing was a maze of alleys, some as narrow as 3 or 4 feet, and very small homes built around courtyards. In some places in the center of Beijing the Hutong and courtyard homes still exist today, passing from generation to generation or in some cases trading hands for very large sums.

We took a short rickshaw ride (Monica and Heidi pictured above), and then walked deeper into the Hutong for a home visit (picture of doorway, and kids in the courtyard) with a local guide. According to our guide ("Vivian"), the family we visited, which included a mother, father, a teenage son, and a grandmother, would be considered middle class. We didn't interact with the family much, but were able to walk through the house and Vivian answered our questions about their life in the home.

They had a television, a computer, and a well-appointed kitchen. The furnishings were sparse and largely antique. Prized possessions included a painting and calligraphy scrolls done by the family's previous generations, a one hundred year old clock from the US, some trophies won in pigeon racing, and photographs of relatives traveling.

The family had a dog, several really unique looking cats (in cages during our visit), and two crickets in small cages. Vivian told us that Beijingers have a habit of keeping crickets, originally as a way to carry the sounds of summer into the quiet, sparse winter.