A Hutong Discussion
The following is a hutong discussion promoted by me on a Chinese history oriented forum: <br/><br/>Me: <br/><br/>As Beijing has been the capital of China for more than 800 years, itsarchitecture style is supreme throughout China. Please do not consider
Beijing as just an "Imperial City". It in fact, is a more "civilian"
city. Hutong or alley way is the kernel of Beijing's culture.
According to some books, there were 1,200 hutongs in Yuan Dynasty,
3,600 hutongs in Ming Dynasty, and over 6,000 hutongs at the end of
Manchu Qing Dynasty. Most of the hutongs are well preserved until 1999. <br/><br/>Within
hutongs, the citizens maintain a good neighborhood relationship among
each other. Senior citizens play Chinese chess or listen to Peking Opera
and Pingju. Children play outside. The atmosphere in hutong is
harmonious. The architectural styles of hutong are diverse, but all are
descended from traditional Chinese culture. Many great events and
forms of culture emerged in hutong. <br/><br/>I
was born in Beijing hutong. My childhood leaves me a great
impression. In 1990, the hutong where my home stood was demolished,
and we have to move into residential skyscrapers. You know, this hutong
has a history of more than 400 years! <br/><br/>Since 1999, the demolishment
of hutong has been a common thing in Beijing. There has been said that
no hutongs will stand after 2008. Many people from outside Beijing are
only enthusiastic in "enjoying" skyscrapers, they consider hutong as a
sort of under modernized structure. They, along with the government
want to demolish them and replace them with meaningless skyscrapers. In 2004, more than 10,000 households in hutongs were forced to move
to the suburbs. The official reason of "Hutong Demolish Movement" is
"modernization", or "preparing for the Olympic Games", but in fact,
this movement has nothing to do with the modernization and Olympics: citizens in hutong are
still living in compact apartment cells, Olympic Games will still be held in Beijing if four-combinations still stand. <br/><br/><span class="normalname"></span>Kimchee:<br/><br/>I think it's ashame how historical sights are destroyed due to
"progress." But, it unfortunately happens all over the world to make
money for big business... including the very town I live in. There was
a beautiful Methodist Church that was demolished to make way for a
parking lot... it was built in the early 1700's. The graveyard across
the street is still there, but I thought it was a crime to do this.<br/><br/>Ashura: <br/><br/>While I do agree and support the perservation of properties of cultural
importance , I also support that some hutongs have to be torn down for
development.<br/><br/>Hutongs
in the old days were residential area where people actually lived
there. The same cannot be said for today because the living conditions
in hutongs are not up to standard. The houses within the hutongs do not
have plumbing and electricity, and if you want to install that, you
will have to pay a high cost in building a system just for the hutongs.
Furthermore, the style of the houses, four combination, is out of date
to support the mobile population in modern day Beijing. The houses used
to hold a whole family within them, while modern apartments and houses
support a nucleus family. That said, the hutongs are economically
unfeasible for ordinary people. I for one, do not see the reason to
live in a hutong with the traditional houses. Losing its main purpose,
hutong is only a tourist attraction. <br/><br/>The best way to find the
balance between development and cultural perservation is to confine the
project into a district. Within this district, the hutongs should be
renovated to show the old face of Beijing. They should build a Hutong
Museum and allow people to actually walk into the houses to see how
people lived in them. The hutongs outside of the district should be
torn down or transformed into something else.<br/><br/>TwinkieDP: <br/><br/><!--Element not supported - Type: 8 Name: #comment-->I'm sorry that your cherished
memories of Old Beijing is being destroyed in the Path of "progress".
Nothing against preservation of Hutongs, but I think my feelings are
aligned with Ashura's. When people outside of China (especially
non-Chinese) think about the Cultural treasures of Beijing, the image
of the Hutongs is hardly brought up. I've seen pictures of these
Hutongs, and I'm sure these peaceful neighborhoods mean a lot to those
people who have lived their for generations, but to the outsider they
may appear to be outdated and substandard living quarters. I agree some
of the cultural aspects showing how ordinary people lived before
"modernization" should be preserved, but living standards for all
people needs to continually improve. Am I saying that high-rise
apartments are the way to go? No.
<br/><br/>Howard Fu:<br/><br/>I have great sympathy for you and Beijing's old Hutongs. <br/>But the
situation is sad. There are big economy interest behind this
'progress'. Real estate businessmen and government officials would make
no money if they leave all the hutongs there. And they are moving so
fast, there will be no hutong left after 2008 before any significant
resistant opinion formed. This 'progress' is unlikely to stop unless
Beijing's estate market have a sudden dive before 2008 which is
unlikely to happen too. Sad!<br/> Excuse me. May I use ur discussion in my dissertation about Beijing Conservation?<br/>Thx a lot!!<br/>
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