Hutong

During China's dynastic period, emperors planned the city of Beijing and arranged the residential areas according to the social classes of the Zhou dynasty (1027–256 BC).

The large siheyuan of these high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants often featured beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars and carefully landscaped gardens.

[citation needed] Nearly all siheyuan had their main buildings and gates facing south for better lighting; thus a majority of hutongs run from east to west.

[citation needed] Historically, a hutong was also once used as the lowest level of administrative geographical divisions within a city in ancient China, as in the paifang (牌坊) system: the largest division within a city in ancient China was a fang (坊), equivalent to current day ward.

Each fang (坊) was further divided into several plate or pai (牌), which is equivalent to a current day (unincorporated) community (or neighborhood).

Each pai (牌), in turn, contained an area including several hutongs, and during the Ming Dynasty, Beijing was divided into a total of 36 fangs (坊).

Siheyuans previously owned and occupied by single families were subdivided and shared by many households, with additions tacked on as needed, built with whatever materials were available.

[4] As China's urbanization greatly increased, many of Beijing's hutongs were demolished during the period 1989-2019, with remaining lanes often converted into tourist attractions as objects of historic preservation.

After the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests, Zhao Ziyang spent his fifteen years of house arrest inside a hutong.

Teams explore hutongs within one city block in detail and complete activities based on art, food, calligraphy, history and technology and often with local businesses.