Event: China - Beijing

Hutong Tour

When:	Daily
Where:	Hutong Tour
Costs:	Approx RMB25 (negotiable)
Opening Hours:	24 hours daily

Beijing's fast-disappearing hutongs - tight, labyrinth alleyways lined with courtyard houses - are a must-see. Take a hutong tour by pedicab from Houhai Lake in Dongcheng around some of Beijing's most beautiful remaining houses.

Hutongs developed around the Forbidden City as early as the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). In order to consolidate their power emperors would plan city housing according to an etiquette system. Imperial kinsmen and senior figures would be in the grander hutongs to the east and west, while working folk would be in the humbler ones to the north and south. Loyal Communist cadres received the same treatment under Chairman Mao.

The hutongs follow a rigid quadrangular layout, with four buildings arranged around an open inner courtyard. There were 3600 hutongs at the beginning of this century. There are now 2000. The days of the hutong seem numbered.

This is because land is at a premium with the advent of the 2008 Olympics and Beijing is boom-town. Property developers are busy transforming these sleepy back streets in the heart of the city into luxury apartment blocks the current residents will not be able to afford.

All the more reason to get busy exploring this fascinating, otherworldly side of Beijing life before it disappears beneath the juggernaut of progress.