A day of public engagement! The Cultural Preservation project team undertook several creative exercises to gather insights from members of the local hutong community.
On the left is a child’s residence. He lives on the 3rd floor. There’s a hotel around his home, and a garbage truck parked in between. There are placards to both sides of his building.
This little girl lives in a car parked near Qianmen with a relative. Above her car, she has drawn the street and the cars on the street. Around the car are some bugs (bottom right is an ant) and the sun.
Especially compared to Nanlouguxiang.
Chinese chess is played on the side of a tree on LiuLiChang East Road, the main pedestrian road at LiuLiChang.
Old Beijing tofu yogurt after a productive day of fieldwork.
This little girl lives in the courtyard in blue. She plays often in the field by her home, and visits an old musician grandpa (top right) on her way home from school. There are a pile of bricks beside her home with boxes that held milk (left out because “they’re too difficult to draw”).
Do you see the shirt? It says “不拆” – “no tear down.” Buildings to be torn down are marked with “拆” in a circle. It’s interesting that this has made its way to a shop in Nanlouguxiang.
An afternoon (~4:30pm) at LiuLiChang is relatively quiet.
Construction never stops in Beijing, not even at night in a busy tourist street.
Aiwa and I engage elementary schoolers coming out of school in a “draw your home and hutong” activity. Excited at the prospect of lollipops, kids eagerly participate. In total, 24 1st to 6th graders participated.
Can’t start fieldwork without a full stomach!
On the left is a child’s residence. He lives on the 3rd floor. There’s a hotel around his home, and a garbage truck parked in between. There are placards to both sides of his building.
This man is the owner of the house. His family has been here for multiple generations, and many of the construction projects in his home are his own handiwork. He is 62 years old. He is sitting in front of his door, feeding his rabbits Chinese cabbage (waiting for them to get fat enough to eat). He no longer raises pigeons because the feed is too expensive.
Notice the multiple 2nd story add-ons.
Television and internet boxes now line the outside of many hutong buildings.
The LiuJia Hutong is filled with self-constructed structures like these.
These men meet to play Chinese chess. Notice their innovative chair and table set up. They walk and set up with direction. It is likely that this game is a daily routine.
These houses weren’t built with electricity in mind. As the number of households and electrical needs have increased, so has the number of crisscrossing electrical wires.
Notice the multiple 2nd story add-ons.
These walls look like they have been repaired many times with many different techniques. Plants grow on the roof. Children’s play tiles again serve as convenient roof tops.
Our new elementary school friends gather to compare shoe sizes with Aiwa. ☺ These kids let us follow them home after school. Here’s a portion of their route: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Z8Q39Zkwmkc/ (password: humancity)
They, too, stop by our 1 man theatre friend. He lets them play his instruments and patiently teaches them.
Inside his home is well-preserved antique furniture.
This family has extended their roof for shade. There is a pigeon house on the roof that is no longer in use.
This innovative family has planted pumpkins on the electrical wires (dangerous much?). To make sure the pumpkins don’t fall, they have installed metal hangers/ cages around the pumpkins.
Hutong residents shop for groceries.
Visible changes in doors over the years.
This door to the left has been sealed close, perhaps because it is not safe/ ideal location.
Notice the multiple 2nd story add-ons.
Conveniently, you can even buy your seafood here!
Inside his home is well-preserved antique furniture.
These walls look like they have been repaired many times with many different techniques. Plants grow on the roof. Children’s play tiles again serve as convenient roof tops.
This old wooden door looks like it might be the original. On both sides are signs telling residents not to dispose of their leftover food on the public ground.
If you look carefully, the top left corner of this door indicates that it is a government protected building.
A Buick is spotted parked next to chickens and a trash can with a wine bottle, some half eaten mantou buns, and other miscellaneous items.
Some sort of cloth is placed over the roof, held down by bricks. The shiny silver car in the back has children’s play tiles over its wheels.
This man is 92 years old and talks to Caroline and me as he sits on his front porch. He moved to Beijing during Liberation as part of the army and has been living in this courtyard for 60 years.
Children get out of school and rush into the streets of the hutongs. Most are walking by themselves or with groups of friends.
The process of renovation. The walls on the left contain a description of the history of LiuLiChang. Notice the rubble and stone lions with a jacket covering its head.
Our friend, the one man theatre performer, greets us as he lets neighborhood kids on their way home from school play with his Chinese brain teaser toys.
hutongs by night and shops: a neighboring commercial street with a lot of restaurants.
Bonus picture #2! The chaos of Hefei – cars in the bike lane, from the view of a car in the bike lane. According to my cousin, the bikers don’t like using the bike lanes so they use the regular roads, and traffic is terrible which makes using the bike lane attractive for cars. Also Hefei is a little different though, shouting is the main form of communication.
Calligraphy: a sample calligraphy done by the famous previous owner of the siheyuan, who is a famous artist.
the smallest theatre: the door of the room in which we met the old opera singer.
Interview siheyuan, a picture of the owner of the siheyuan we interviewed in the back courtyard of her house. There were very few outdoor lights in the streets and in the house.
hutongs by night and shops: a neighboring commercial street with a lot of restaurants.
Caroline and Alice in the smallest theatre in Beijing.
Alice playing one of the singer’s instruments
A project of the International Urbanization Seminar
