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:
- sniff
the tea leaves of the first tea you will be drinking, and then add them to
the hot water - 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) - 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 - 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
I have had this exact same thought process…and so far, no world destruction…take that butterfly!
Indirect
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