Day 4: Beijing's Hutongs

Went in search of the legendary "Hutongs" today. Hutongs are essentially walled communities, with a front gate leading to a warren of paths and shacks.

Entrance wall to one of the hutongs

The photographer in me was placated. Culturally, the hutongs offer amazing insights into how Chinese city dwellers live. But the observer in me was in a quandary. There are some reputed "upper class" hutongs, but for the most part these streets are, by western standards, impoverished. Many of them don't have running water and each hutong has a common toilet which, let me assure you, stinks. Many of the walls are falling in. Word on the street is that not many of these hutongs will be around by the time the 2008 Olympics in Beijing rolls around.

But I was hesitant to impose my own western upbringing of hot showers and privacy onto the way the hutong dwellers live. Matt and I argued about this point a few times.

His side was that given the choice, they would live in a place with running water and air-conditioning. My side was that they probably didn't know any other way of living so would they miss what they didn't know existed? The other thing that struck me was that, in spite of (maybe because of?) the poverty of many of the communities, the people seemed happy. Kids were skipping in the street, old men were playing mahjong, sucking on their cigarettes and quaffing Chinese liquor, young men were playing pool on the tables set-up on the street. There was laughter.

Of course Matt and I looked at these people and believed (again, according to our own set of western ideologies) they deserved "better" living standards, but what is better - being poor, but part of a supportive community, or having all the mod-cons but no sense of community (I'm thinking a little of Tokyo here)? Who knows? The outsider's dilemma.

Beijing Station circa 2004

... took an overnight sleeper train to Qingdao. There are two classes of sleeper in China - soft sleeper and hard sleeper. We took the soft sleeper for the 10 hour journey. In each cabin is 2 bunk beds with 4 berths, pillows, duvets and a closeable door. It was surprisingly comfy and we slept well (in spite of the snorer above Matt. There's always one joker), although that may have been the copious amounts of Tsingtao beer we quaffed prior to bedding down.

Beijing Station and the train itself came straight from the celluloid of a 1940's Russian war-movie. The station platform was ablaze with yellow, dim lights, the train toilets were... like any other toilet in China, although you could lock the door (once you stepped over all the piss on the floor) and the dining car was full of Chinese guards quaffing Tsingtao, the room thick with cigarette smoke.

And the Chinese government really like to know where you are. At all times. Everywhere we stayed, including on the train, they recorded our passport details and the Chinese citizens handed over their ID cards for the same treatment.

Kinki's Daily Dose... Poverty

Although the hutongs were overrun with people, street stalls and compromised housing, this didn't compare with the begging we saw, particularly around the Qianmen area.

Now, begging doesn't really exist in Japan. It may, but I've never seen it. In Beijing you can't escape it, and inevitably it's the most pitiable of people with their can out - the ones with no legs, with apparent deformities and the children who cling to you and beg for money. Matt had to brush a few children off (with their expectant "carers" waiting in a nearby doorway), who would not let him go and he funked out afterward for ages.

At many of the "tourist" attractions we went to, there was a sign "People with deformities - free". It struck me as strange, but I can't quite put my finger on why. I'm guessing because we don't see those kind of signs in Japan or Australia.

While the hutongs breathed a desperate sort of life, the north Qianmen Dajie area reeked of death. I can't really explain that, but we tried to avoid that area as much as we could. As an outsider, there was a lot about China that I couldn't explain or understand (nor, I guess, was I supposed to) particularly in reference to the in-your-face poverty and the quiet desperation hovering over the locals. As outsiders in Japan, we don't get the exposure to that side of humanity here. I hated seeing it, but I think it was something I needed to see. To appreciate just how good I have it.

Kinki's China Tip for the Day

When travelling sleeper class, bring stacks of tissues and plenty of bottled water. And earplugs. The 6.30 a.m wake-up Kenny G at 200 decibels is not worth trifling with.

I'm not finished quite yet - stick around for Day 5 - "Qingdao and the Misinformation Centre"

Hutongs Photo Gallery