Beijing Walks

Hútòng Walking

A general introduction to hútòng life and the history of these back alleys

Forward to the Past

On foot through traditional domesticity in the hútòng of west Běijīng
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North, Around the Back Lakes

Not all hútòng houses are being flattened or replaced with kitsch…

A short walk through a former Imperial warehouse district, connecting the Forbidden City and the Back Lakes
Part of A Better Guide to Beijing’s coverage of the Imperial City

Běijīng’s original foreign enclave, besieged in 1900
Part of A Better Guide to Beijing’s coverage of the Imperial City

I dined that evening in the stuffy atmosphere of the British Legation. The compound of the English Palace with its…

Part of the Background section of A Better Guide to Běijīng

‘Where,’ demands the visitor, alternatively squinting at the fine mesh of streets marked on his map and then waving it in the face of the puzzled concierge, ‘is The Hútòng?’