Hutong Tour

The word "hutong" is Mongolian in origin, meaning a "water well". Later it was referred to as narrow streets or lanes formed by quadrangles. The word " hutong" with the meaning of narrow lanes was formed in the 13th century when the Yuan dynasty occupied Beijing and made it as the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. The Emperor rebuild and reconstruction the Beijing city . Surrounding the Imperial Palace , there were clear definitions of streets, lanes looked so beautiful , just like a chessboard . A passage of 24 steps in width was called a broad street ,12 steps wide was a narrow road and 6 steps wide was called Huton g. the mostly existent Hutong we see today were built in the Ming and Qing dynasty .

the most representative buildings in Hutongs are quadrangles with rooms on its four sides. The quadrangles are traditional Chinese buildings and they are built in the inner-courtyard-style. Quadrangles of Beijing have spacious courtyards, corridors linking rooms standing on independent on four sides , and the construction is convenient for daily life. Such a close quadrangle residence provides dwellers with high privacy when the only facing the street is shut and it is suitable for a single family to live in. Rooms on four sides all have doors open facing the courtyard, so that all members of the family can live harmoniously together. In the courtyard, trees and flowers can be planted, birds and fish bred, rockeries and screens made, and in addition to comfortable lodgings, dwellers can share the beautiful field granted by Nature.