Chinese Vernacular Architecture

I was back in Beijing for about six weeks this summer, and things were getting worse. Whole neighborhoods of hutongs (traditional Beijing alleyways) are still being demolished, ancient residences gone, while new building projects are under way. Below are some pictures I took outside of the Qianmen area (almost right in the heart of old Beijing, see map below), where Dajiang Hutong and Xianyukou Hutong are being destroyed. The irony about the destruction is that the developers, while doing away with these ancient alleyways, put up photos and (prints of) paintings of the old hutongs and residences as they were and are supposed to be, on the billboards that they erected to cover up what’s going on behind them.

A sign indicating the name of the hutong (Dajiang Hutong) with guards petrolling and stopping visitors from going into the hutongs.

And this is what’s behind the billboards.

Another ancient alleyway, Xianyukou Hutong, is suffering the same fate.

Below is a map that shows where Qianmen (the Front Gate) area is in Beijing. Xianyukou Hutong is shown as Xianyukou St, just a little south of the Gate: