Trust me, Hu tong is not unique in Beijing.
In the northern part of China alleys were called "Hutong", in the southern part they were more likely addressed as "Xiang" (sounds a little like 'Shiang', the fourth tone)
Although Hangzhou doesnt have so many alleys as Shanghai does, take a look at this, it does have some typical households alleys.
It's a great fun to live in an alley like this, households here have a much closer relationship with their neighbors than those who 'lock' themselves in apartments.
This must be a new alley, I know some Xiangs in Hangzhou that can be traced back to Ming and Qing dynasties, and they look just fantastic, hmmm, Monday and Tuesday are pretty boring, right? You just need to pull yourself together...
I have some really good shots tomorrow, don't worry, I'm sure you'll like it.
7 comments:
When I'm travelling I allways like to go to these less touristic places and look around. Alleys are allways very pitoresque!
alleys like these in mumbai are called gullies..
WOW... love this alley photo...
I loved your comments. When the Olympics were on, one of the news people took a little tour of one of the alleys. I see what you mean about the neighbors knowing each other much better.
JM,
I can't agree with you more, that's what I like to do as well~~
Magiceye,
Gully? Thx for your answer!
Trsnta,
Thx!
Sharon,
Yes, you're right, I saw lots of Hutoongs during those days and found actually there's little difference between a hutong and a xiang.
When I was in Bejing a couple of years ago, there were fortunately quite a few of these hutongs left. I'm happy to see that some are surviving! Of course, the "art of living" is completely different here, compare to new appartment buildings, a culture which is disappearing.
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