Beijing Hutongs

Beijing Hutongs

One of the most frequently asked questions by tourists visiting Beijing is: where are the hutongs in Beijing? The hutongs of Beijing originated in the Yuan Dynasty, with as many as over 6,000 at their peak. The oldest ones are found between Chaoyangmennei Street and Dongsi, where they were laid out quite systematically—with fairly consistent distances between each hutong. Those running from north to south are generally referred to as streets, which are relatively wide—such as Nanxiaojie and Beixiaojie from Beijing Railway Station to Chaoyangmennei Street. Since they were originally used mainly for horse-drawn carriages, they are also called “roads.” Those running from east to west are typically hutongs, which are relatively narrow and primarily used for pedestrians. Traditional siheyuan (courtyard houses) usually line both sides of these hutongs.

Geographically, the hutongs north of Qianmen are generally wider and more regularly planned, while those south of Qianmen tend to be narrower and less uniformly laid out. This is because during the Qing Dynasty, for security reasons, the Qing government prohibited non-residents from living within the inner city. As a result, people from other regions concentrated their residence outside Qianmen and Chongwenmen, forming the Qianmen commercial district. Among these outsiders, many were scholars who came to the capital to take imperial exams, giving rise to the Liulichang cultural street. The Tianqiao area hosted numerous entertainment venues, and most of Beijing’s theaters were located in the southern part of the city.

How many hutongs are there in Beijing? Historical records indicate that during the Ming Dynasty, there were several thousand, including over 900 in the inner city and more than 300 in the outer city. By the Qing Dynasty, the number had increased to over 1,800, and during the Republican era, there were over 1,900. In the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a count recorded more than 2,550 hutongs. Later, some old names were merged and new ones assigned. Since the reform and opening-up period, with economic growth and urban development, some hutongs have been demolished and rebuilt. To date, Beijing has approximately 4,000 named streets and alleys.