Hutong in Beijing
www.
AsiaClassicTours.
com
A China tour is incomplete without a wander through the ancient city alleyways or
hutongs that symbolize the historic city of
Beijing in the minds of many tourists who
have made China travel their favorite...
More
Hutong in Beijing
www.
AsiaClassicTours.
com
A China tour is incomplete without a wander through the ancient city alleyways or
hutongs that symbolize the historic city of
Beijing in the minds of many tourists who
have made China travel their favorite pastime.
Indeed, it s not hard at all to see why so many
China tours either begin or end there, for there
are few better places to find the soul of
Chinese urban life.
Originally thousands of
hutongs were built around the Forbidden City,
mainly during the Yuan, Ming and Qing
dynasties that spanned the centuries between
the years 1206 and 1908.
In the prime of their
power the Emperors arranged the hutongs in accordance with etiquette, so that the most
important citizens lived closest to the Forbidden City.
The Hutong Story
Most hutongs consisted of four houses arranged in a rectangular structure around a
courtyard that provided both a measure of intimacy for family members and a degree of
mutual privacy and protection.
The houses and t
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