hutongs

The last couple days I had the opportunity to be involved in some in-home consumer research, giving me the opportunity to see how the average Chinese consumer lives. The most interesting moments happened when we visited people living in the hutongs and observed them doing some chores in their homes. Hutongs can best be described as a maze of very tiny alleys, with common courtyards and sometimes also common bathrooms. These neighborhoods are taking you back in time but despite the blatant poverty there is a real sense of community. Without wanting to overly romanticize the hutong life, it is a great place to stroll around and see nothing and everything. Unfortunately a lot of these neighborhoods are smack in the middle of Beijing (high value real estate) and therefore are being demolished by the government and replaced with apartments. With the hutongs being destroyed, Beijing is losing some of its soul; hopefully the government will keep some this authentic architecture alive.