Beijing's Hutong

Houhai 

Yangfang and Maoer Hutong

 

 

 

 

Another item on our "must do" list was to ride in a rickshaw around a "hutong."  This is a narrow alleyway through old courtyard homes.  Many people still live this way today.  Thousands of these used to exist but in Beijing's attempt to modernize the city they wiped out many of these homes.  Ironic at how now these are the places that everyone wants to see.

I learned that for feng shui reasons most hutong run east-west so that their main gates face south.  This guarantees sunshine and protection from negative principles gathering in the north.

 

Houhai Lake

This is happening a lot.  I thought I would just show a little of what our family experiences (especially Jake) -- but I'll save the rest for another post :)

This is how he is learning to walk around the city...poor kid!