Photo Friday "Darkness"
1 October 2005, 08:40
Darkness… Click to enlarge in Gallery
The Story behind “Darkness” (and a weeeeeee bit of grandstanding)
This photo of a hutongs alley was taken in April 2004, in Beijing.
The Hutongs are, in my opinion, the most fascinating aspect of Beijing’s modern-day vibe. Meandering, walled mini-cities dotted throughout Beijing, with shared pit-toilets (using one was one of the more confronting things I did in China), cheap restaurants, old dudes playing mahjong on the streets, rickshaws weaving in and out of the communal throngs going about their daily business. The Hutongs throb with vibrating energy.
There is also a desolate side to them, long deserted alleys, lit only by a single light, the quiet edge of desperation in the inhabitants living in what many “first-worlders” would see as abject poverty, seemingly offset by a fierce community spirit and their determination to make the best of what they’ve got.
The atmosphere of the Hutongs echoes with a moving contrast of Life and Desolation. And it breaks my heart that these historical monuments to the Chinese essence of family and community will be mostly demolished “in time” for the 2008 Olympics. Gone are the (smelly) centres of conversation that are the pit toilets, gone are the fascinating labyrinths of (impoverished) architectural history, in favour of the Chinese government putting up a brand new, shiny facade of wealth and first-world glamour.
My question is, where will these hutongs inhabitants go? Will they be shunted to the rural areas, as the homeless were in Japan’s major cities when the Soccer World Cup was on? Will they be disenfranchised from their homes and relocated to soulless new apartment blocks? What will happen to the exotic contrasts of old-world and new that define Beijing?
I went nuts taking photos of the Hutongs, mostly because they were a panacea to my jaded photographic eye, but also because I knew that in a year or two, they wouldn’t exist.
For more photos of the Hutongs, please go to my (called funnily enough…) Beijing hutongs gallery or the China Portraits gallery.
Permanent Link | - I loved visiting Beijing’s Hutongs too, Kinki. Definitely a highlight of Beijing and my overall travels to China. Makes me sad to hear of more and more of the old parts of Beijing (and other cities and towns too, for that matter) being torn down to make way for modern monstrosities.
— nicole Oct 1, 05:49 PM # - I’m heading to Beijing next year… I wonder if I might find anything left of them in my travels.
— Sussy (nee Ren) Oct 7, 11:51 AM # - Kinki,
Just got back from a trip to Huang Shan (yellow mountain) so did not see your response until now. I looked through the rest of your China pictures and they are equally amazing. Any chance I could use a few for our “picture of the day” feature? :)
oh, also, thanks for the nice compliment. We are working hard to make our site better and better!
— Steve Oct 11, 10:02 AM #
