Hutongs in Beijing

　　    One question frequently asked by tourists visiting Beijing is where the hutongs are. The hutongs in Beijing originated as early as the Yuan Dynasty, and at their peak there were more than 6,000. The oldest ones are located between Chaoyangmennei Street and Dongsi, featuring a rather neat layout, with roughly equal distances between each hutong. Those running from north to south are generally streets — relatively wide — such as Nanxiaojie and Beixiaojie from Beijing Railway Station to Chaoyangmennei Street. As they were mainly used for horse-drawn carriages in the past, they were also called “roads.” Those running from east to west are typically hutongs — relatively narrow — primarily for pedestrian use, with siheyuan (courtyard houses) usually lining both sides.

　　　　       Geographically, hutongs north of Qianmen are generally wider and more regularly laid out, while those south of Qianmen tend to be narrower and less uniformly planned. This is because during the Qing Dynasty, for security reasons, the Qing government did not allow outsiders to live within the inner city, so people from other regions mostly settled outside Qianmen and Chongwenmen, which led to the formation of the Qianmen commercial district. Among the migrants were many scholars who came to Beijing to take imperial exams, leading to the creation of the Liulichang cultural street. Tianqiao area had many entertainment venues, and most of Beijing’s theaters were concentrated in the southern part of the city.

　　　　       How many hutongs are there in Beijing? Historical records show that there were several thousand during the Ming Dynasty, including over 900 in the inner city and more than 300 in the outer city. By the Qing Dynasty, the number grew to over 1,800, and during the Republican era, there were over 1,900. In the early years after the founding of New China, the count was recorded as more than 2,550. Later, some old names were merged and new ones assigned. Since the reform and opening-up period, with economic development and urban construction, some hutongs were demolished or renovated. Today, Beijing has approximately 4,000 named streets and alleys.