One of my favourite things about Beijing is its Hutongs, little alleys all around the city that define Beijing in many ways. Some are very commercial nowadays, with modern coffee shops and some are more hidden and are mostly residential. And it’s the residential ones that I find representative of the city, or at least the traditional part of the city. The number of these hutongs has been decreasing over the years. Maybe because of people moving to better equipped modern apartments or development and more profitable use of the land. Whatever it is, it’s surely killing parts of the traditional Beijing.
