Our last tour in Beijing was the traditional residences of China, which are slowly but surely disappearing under the crush of concrete.

Hutongs (simplified Chinese: 胡同; traditional Chinese: 衚衕; pinyin: hútòng; Wade–Giles: hu²-t’ung⁴) are a type of narrow streets or alleys, commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, most prominently Beijing.

In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences.^[1] Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining onesiheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

A few of my favorite shots from around the Hutongs.

Everything is painted grey … I was told in large part due to the previous Olympics, although now it is the standard. Black and white shots seem to be the best, as it was rather hazy.

Very old mailboxes.

Progress. Slowly, but surely, the old buildings disappear.

Many of the cars have pieces of carpet or wood against the wheels – to stop the dogs and cats from marking the tires.

Mixed in behind the side streets are a few remaining temples and buildings – buried deep.

This many hundreds of years old plaque (if I remember correctly) is a list of the local elders.

History disappearing.