Why are OLd Beijing lanes called Hutong?

靳京

Why are Old Beijing lanes called hutong? Can someone give some backgroud information from historical perspectives? Many thanks

老北京的巷子为什麽被称作“胡同”? 那位大侠可以从历史的角度提供些背景知识？多谢了！

[em03]

FengShui

Was that a Mongolian word from YUAN Dynasty when HuBiLie started building City of Dadu? 是不是从元朝忽必烈建立"大都"城时的一个蒙文?

靳京

This is what I found out from an American website:

It has record that in the 12th century B.C.when the Jin(大金国) had capital here called Zhongzhou (中都大兴府), streets and lanes appeared, but not hutongs. In 1276B.C., in the Yuan(元朝),Dadu - the capital city was built thronged with officals and nobles. Residential houses were set up for high-ranking officials side by side.Usually a compound with a courtyard with one-story houses(四合院儿)accommodated a single family. Small allys that ran between courtyard homes for proper draught and daylinght were earliest

hutongs. The word "hotong" priginated from the word "hottog"(浩特)which means "well"(水井)in Mongolian. There were 29 hotongs at the time only. Most of the hotongs remained today were built in the Ming and Qing(明清两朝)resulted from block extension of imperial city. The Zhuanta Hutong(砖塔胡同)in Xisi(西四)on west side of the city was once mentioned in the Yuan dramas. It used to be the residential house for the noted playwright Guan Hanqing. China's Shakespeare of Yua dynasty.

靳京

The information from the above attachment indicates that Zhuanta Hutong has been very historically famous. Apart from being in the Yuan Drama, it was once the right residencial place for the noted playwright Guan Hanqing. However, this is western point of view. I wonder if this matches the fact in this particular Hutong. 

上帖说西四砖塔胡同十分有名，除了上了元代的戏剧以外，还曾经是元代最著名的剧作家关汉卿的住所。当然这是西方的报道，不知砖塔胡同里的信息是否与之吻合。