Street sign

Day #89: Hutongs

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June 30th 2013
I am staying, as a lot of tourists do, in a hostel in one of Beijing's hutongs. These are networks of old-style avenues of low grey buildings, and have much more character than the rest of the city, which is mostly made up of anonymous high-rises. The hutongs are very distinctive: all the buildings are painted grey, with the gables and windowframes dark red. The streets are narrow but bust ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing

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For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more