Wandering through Beijing's hutong alleys

Andy Hill

When travelling to different cities around Asia and Europe, I tend to inevitably find myself ducking into side streets and alleyways, like some kind of urban archaeologist, as if I might find something in these less-visited areas that everyone else missed. This has been true in Prague, Phnom Penh, Leiden, and Yogyakarta, among many others.

There has always been something deeply romantic to me about getting away from the crowds and finding the strange, winding, mazelike guts of a place. I inevitably find some tiny bar, cafe, or courtyard that becomes the encapsulation of my memory of the place, and makes my experience of it more memorable. 

I never really feel like I have been to a city, or really know it, unless I have burrowed into its smallest back streets and seen it from a completely different angle than the photos on the covers of guidebooks offer.  

There is no place I have visited where this is such a fun and fascinating activity than in Beijing. Completely free of tourists, ticket takers, glass cases, and plaques, the hutong of Beijing provide an endless array of passageways in which to get lost and delighted.

Hutong mean’s street or alley, and much of the planning of these neighborhoods goes back to the Zhou Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty of the 15^th century these neighborhoods were arranged by social classes in concentric circles out from the Forbidden City. 

These seemingly endless, tiny backstreets are full of gems waiting to be stumbled upon by the curious urban hiker. The grey brick lines of centuries-old structures, impossibly small dumpling stands, tea houses, art shops and historical curios wedged among them, contain an amount of charm that could not be exhausted.

They are also lined with classical Chinese-style courtyard houses, some of which have been turned into guesthouses. The most impressive example (in my opinion) of these is the award-winning Sitting on the City Walls hostel, a ten minute walk north of the Forbidden City, which has comfortable, smart rooms, amazing food, and an extremely helpful and friendly staff. 

However, the wanderer will find many other amazing converted courtyard guesthouses in the hutong.

A visit to Beijing would be seriously remiss without a day (or several) devoted to exploring these delightful alleyways. 

There is much history to be learned and images to behold, and always an ice cold Tsingtao and plate of hot dumplings for resting your feet between jaunts.