464 Old Beijing

Key words：

transgression n 侵犯

vernacular adj 民间风格的（建筑）

courtyard n 四合院

after the trip, I started digging into the long history of hutongs to try and understand what my transgression had been. And I learned a lot about the history of these hutongs along the way, which have changed a lot over time. Way back in the 13th century, hutongs were simply these utilitarian alleyways that helped Beijing function. 

I mean, it makes sense. A lot of cities have alleys. I mean, so what was different or specific about hutongs? 

Historically, it was less that the alleys themselves were different–more that the architecture they served was because the city’s residential vernacular was dominated by this special kind of courtyard home that took up a lot of space. We’re talking about huge walled estates, each containing multiple houses arrayed around this central open space. And so unlike alleys–in the way that we think of them–running behind blocks, these ran behind blocks, between blocks because what they were serving was these huge courtyard complexes. 

Right. Okay. So, you have this open space. There’s lots of freestanding buildings between them. These alleys–they’re not in a grid necessarily. They’re basically, like, roads to access all these different spaces within these courtyard systems. 

Exactly. And these hutongs serve other walled structures, too.