July 6, 2006

• Hutong? Youtong!

  June 25, 2006

  Went on a tour of the hutongs (alleyways) of old Beijing
  today. Hutong is a Mongolian word meaning waterway. When old Beijing
  was designed and laid out on a grid, a number of little pathways were built in
  between the main streets that could serve as sort of fire alley’s for people to
  escape down.

   Then again, making fire escape routes through narrow alleys
  of wood roofed buildings all on top of each other was probably not the best
  idea in retrospect, but oh well 

   We took a rickshaw through several of the hutongs until we
  arrived at minor officials hutong. Each hutong is named according to those who
  lived there (officials alley, weavers ally), a street feature (flower ally), or
  some legend or unidentifiable name (dragon alley, apple monkey carburetor lane
  )

  We got to stop off along the way to enter one of the
  hutongs, which are like little four walled compounds, most of them arranged
  according to feng shui (fung shway). For example, the north side of the
  compound will be the tallest wall, and therefore receive the most sunlight,
  making it the principal room, like the bedroom; the entrance to the hutong
  compound will always be in the southeast corner, and will have a threshold you
  must step over. This is because evil spirits can walk into your doorway, but if
  you have a threshold, they cannot climb or jump, so you will be protected.

   The hutong we visited only housed 8 people, all part of the
  same family, whose family had had the hutong in their possession for over 100
  years! Other hutong compounds could have as many as 20-30 people from several
  different unrelated families all living in them at one time.

   At first I thought they would be fairly poverty stricken
  residents to be found in the hutongs, but apparently because of the history and
  cultural significance, hutongs are even more expensive to rent than the high
  rises in downtown Beijing. (THE MORE YOU KNOW!)

   Then we hopped back on the rickshaws and continued our tour.
  Rickshaw is a fun way to travel. You may not go as fast as in a taxi, but you
  have time to take in your surroundings, which is especially pleasant on a nice
  summer day with the trees in full bloom, people sitting out at neighborhood
  café’s drinking or playing cards, and just a general feeling of well being all
  around

   The next stop was drum tower. In ancient times, the drums
  would be sounded every business hour so officials in the city would know when
  they had appointments with the emperor, and regular people would just have a
  general way of keeping time. Across the way from the drum tower was the bell
  tower, which in ancient times would be rung at the beginning and end of every
  workday.

  Nowadays, the restored drums are beginning to sound out the
  workday again, albeit from 9 to 5 instead of 7 to 7, and the recast bell only
  rings twice a year, on new years eve (ours) and spring festival (the lunar, or
  Chinese new year). We climbed the 69 steps of the drum tower and got to watch a
  performance by people dressed in clothing of the qing dynasty. Below is a short
  video of the experience

   …….insert video here

   We also got treated to a panoramic view of Beijing
  both old and new…seeing the contrast of the hutongs below and the high rises
  off in the distance was quite impressive.

   Next stop on the tour was the palace of prince gong, one of
  the brothers of the emperor from the [ming?] dynasty. The pics of the park
  below do more justice to the tranquility of the place than any my mere words,
  despite the large crowds.

   We also stopped in the compound to partake in a Chinese tea
  ceremony, very different from the Japanese tea ceremony I have done previously.
  In the Chinese tea ceremony, you taste several teas in the following way:

  1. sniff
     the tea leaves of the first tea you will be drinking, and then add them to
     the hot water
  2. pour
     the tea into a thin glass and roll it around in your hands back and forth
     like silly putty while smelling the tea again (the actual tea this time,
     not the leaves)
  3. Transfer
     the tea from the smelling glass to the drinking glass, and holding the
     glass with your thumb and forefinger on either side, and your middle
     finger supporting the bottom, consume the tea in 3 sips
  4. lather
     rinse repeat with the other teas you try, although they can be consumed in
     any number of sips

   The teas we tried were oolong, jasmine, and lychee…which was
  my favorite. Then they showed us some nifty magic teacups wherein you add hot
  water, and the image on the cup changes, like so…

   ….insert video

   By that point it was starting to rain, so I snapped a few
  more pics, and it was time to finish up the rickshaw/hutong tour and move on to
  beihai park

   Beihai park was in the traditional asian style of parks that
  I treasure so much, carefully planned out and cultivated as opposed to the open
  fields or campgrounds that we call parks in America

   In the center sits a ginormous white pagoda which I shall go
  back and visit another day. Instead, we wandered around the park and saw the 9
  dragon screen, a number of tai chi practitioners and just some neato stuff in
  general. We also watched some…erm…well I don’t really know what it was, but
  some kind of impromptu Chinese karaoke street performance old people thing. Fun
  stuff though

   And while watching this, I spied with my little eye a group
  of elderly women dancing and wandered over…it turned out they were all retired
  women who get together at the end of the day to just sort of dance for kicks
  and giggles…they taught my mom and I several of the moves, and we picked it up
  pretty quickly cuz we got rhythm, we got music, who could ask for anything
  more…sorry I don’t have a video to show you all, perhaps another day

   In return for there kind lessons in Chinese line dancing, my
  mom and I taught them the electric slide. Yes, the electric slide. Thank you
  years and years of Bar and Bat Mitvahs. L’chaim!

   Then it was on to dinner, and a good night’s rest, for
  tomorrow begins my training in acupuncture

  -J

  • 12:32 am
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