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Published: January 1st 2011
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31st December 2010
In between Dong Si Wu and Dong Si Liu Tiao, (two old hutong alleys to the north east of the Forbidden City the harsh wind is howling around the corners. I bent into the wind and followed a sound. I thought it was the wind but couldn’t find it until I noticed a flock of pigeons circling the lane overhead. Eventually they came to rest over a really beautifully gated hutong house. The birds circled and either one or all must have had something tied to them to make the howling whistling sound that I mistook for the wind.
The sound seemed to be for a special reason or for a tradition but I had no clues. A local man stood with me to tell me when they were coming Gou Lai, Gou Lai, Ma shang, you ma? You le. (they coming, they’re coming in a minute, do you have them? I have them) The lanes have a continuous calling sound. It’s a mixture of cardboard collectors, vendors, honking horns, children playing and being collected from school and now these birds. In it’s crazyness it is serene.
Absolutely.
I’m at home here in the
hutongs. The life is busy and practical. Everyone is practical. Basic survival instincts overcome the harsh weather. Four layers of clothes, tights under trousers, two scarves, one around the mouth and face, one crossed across my chest and tied behind my back, a real lined woolen hat and two pairs of gloves. Feather Rab. I am underdressed.
But then again I feel totally at home here and Never Ever bored or scared or lost. Our teacher wants me to learn Hanzi in one month so that I may understand more. Understand what more? A sign? A menu?
I’m heading towards the Drum and Bell tower again but am side tracked by everything. It’s all like wonderland to me with little living and breathg jewels. Many, many firsts. The hutongs are the Skeleton of Beijing, The People the blood and life.
On the corner of Fuxue Hutong, A man lives in his tiny bird shop. It’s full to the rafters of birds screaming, calling Ni Hao and Wei answering the phone. He has a gorgeous little dog and a bed in the corner and that’s it. His fish tank has leaked and grows 3 long flat icicles and
he lives here with his dog and birds. It’s unbelievably cold. He’s patient with me. Today I have bought him sweets for New Year.
1st January 2011
It’s the second time I am heading north to the Bell Tower to see the bird man again and on the way, I’m spinning in the lanes looking at all of the flags hanging outside every hutong gate for New Year. I say Hello and Happy New Year to all the old folks. A woman talks to me and we walk together. She tells me she is learning Raja Yoga for the mind and then invites me to the little Yoga Centre. I go with a woman I don’t know with a name I forgot and cannot pronounce to a place I don’t know where to listen about a thing I cannot understand in a language that I pick at understanding. It’s amazing. Do I need to learn Hanzi for this life experience? No I do not.
She tells me that there are 6 secrets in the yoga of the mind. The first is ‘who am I’ and I remember two others in bitty bits. I’ve been invited to join
the group tomorrow for singing. I can’t sing and have no idea of the words but I’m going.
When I arrive at the Bell Tower, the bird man with the glass bead is here again. He's attracting a crowd. Eventually, I take his picture with the instax so that I can give it him. He's so pleased, he wants to take my photo (4 times) and gives me his bird. Everyone crowds round and wants the bird.
At the lake around the corner, there are thousands of people skating on the ice. They treat the lake as they do the roads - no order, move without looking, me, me, me but they don't have horns so no honking and unbelievably, as with the roads, there are few crashes. about 70% skate the others are made up of people riding contraptions that look like hard school chairs on skis. Some use ski sticks to move, some handles and others are pushed. I saw one like an adapted 70's chopper bike that he pedalled. It's a fantastic sight and I imagine this acitivity has been played for hundreds of winters on the beijing lakes. When Tracey comes back, maybe
we'll have a go. After all, all these people can't be wrong, it must be safe - huh?
oooh, one looks like a wheelchair on skis - don't want that one. I think I'll try for the chopper and give Tracey a backsy.
Now I’ve got my bearings, I surprisingly find I’m living a stone’s throw from the first place I ever stayed in China; which was in the Autumn of 2006. I never thought that I would ever return to Beijing and I never ever thought that I come back to almost the very place where I started to learn about China.
My first taste of China was naïve, to say the least. I’d never before seen or heard the things that are now second nature to me. I stayed in what was a very special quadrangle hutong house – modified into a small hostel. I tried to return in 2008 but there was a hold on all hotels during the Olympics and this opportunity was closed to me. Now, I’m back on its doorstep with freedom and a previous notion of the life here. But that was Summer and now it’s around minus 13 everyday
with a sharp wind and try as I will to take in as much of the life here, I know that I cannot learn it in my own lifetime. Everyday I’m fortunate to see another new way of life or tradition or small thing I never knew existed.
I’m trying to undo some of the things that I have buttoned into my lifestyle in China and stitch the new things that I find fascinating onto the patches I already know. The things I find amazing or remarkable are simple things that I never take for granted but also I forget that many people have never seen or heard or felt them. So, they’re not that simple, they’re fascinating and unique to this area of the world.
I’ve read that an avenue or street should be 24 paces but that a Hutong should be 6. The courtyard houses range from large four-walled SiHeYuan which are former mansions to three walled SanHeYuan which are now lived in by one or several families. The larger and more elaborate the gate, the more important the original person was. Most gates lead into short narrow passages and decorations for the ordinary people’s gates
were much smaller, if any at all. The houses are made out of grey brick and roofed with grey tiles. The front steps are made from marble and the pillars are always painted vermilion. All have high walls surrounding them and mostly have trees and flowers in their courtyards. It was a tradition to plant two Scholar Trees at the front gate which is why many hutongs are still tree lined. The richly decorated gates of large courtyard houses are called RuYiMen (good luck gate) and most of the hutongs we see today were built during the Qing Dynasty but have been around since the Ming Dynasty.
The lanes were usually named after their shape and location, sometimes after people. Some are unusual to us today but maybe weren’t when they were named. HuoYaoJu (Gunpowder office alley) Wangnainia Hutong (Granny Wang Alley) MaShiQiao (Horse Market Bridge).
These names conjure an exotic feeling and in reality, nothing has really changed.
I love being here.
Xin Nian Kuai le everyone (happy new year)
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Traveling Hawk
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Nice comment, supported by good photos. I also wrote about Beijing hutong on my blog, on December.