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BEIJING - These are troubled times for Beijing's ancient "hutong" alleyways, which once fanned out around the city to form a graceful network of passageways lined with traditional courtyard houses, grey Ming Dynasty neighbourhoods filled with atmosphere.
Only one-third of Beijing's hutongs still exist - most have been demolished or partially destroyed, according to a recent survey.
The devastation of ancient areas such as Qianmen, which used to house some of Beijing's oldest traditional courtyards and alleyways, bears out the report's findings. Qianmen has lost many alleyways, some of them dating back to the 13th century, to make way for new developments.
As well as being the main form of urban construction in the "northern capital" of Beijing, the hutongs have for centuries provided a framework for vibrant local communities, as knife-sharpeners, coal merchants and fruit-sellers moved up and down their precincts plying their wares.
The word "hutong" itself is originally a Mongolian expression meaning "well" - in early Beijing, communities grew up in the streets leading to the wells.
During the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), there were 458 hutongs in Beijing, which had risen to 978 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The latticework of streets housed the eunuchs of the imperial household; the markets for coal, jewellery or goats; historical columns dedicated to unicorn, or the courtyards of the Wendefang, or Literature and Morality District.
By the 1980s, when China began its opening-up process, there were 3679 alleys in Beijing, but since then rampant development has destroyed many of these beautiful alleyways - the number of hutongs has fallen 40 per cent since then as town planners clear the precincts to make way for roads and gleaming office blocks.
The areas due to be demolished are marked with the character "chai", which means "demolish".
The pace of destruction was expected to slow as 2008 nears, but new "chai" signs are still going up.
While some of the development is linked to projects for next year's summer Olympics which are being held in the capital, much of the old city has been knocked down as part of the broader redevelopment of the city.
Chairman Mao Zedong started the process in the 1950s when he moved many factories into the city. But the impact of that has been dwarfed by efforts to redevelop the capital as a world city, complete with world-scale office buildings in the central business district and the new signature Olympic buildings springing up on the sites of ancient communities.
A newly released survey by the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture examined around 1320 traditional streets and lanes and found 15 per cent had been totally destroyed to make way for buildings. It found that 205 hutongs, 15 per cent of the total, have been completely demolished to allow building.
Many people worry that Beijing has lost something of its essence as an old capital city and redevelopment has not been a peaceful process.
Many of the people resettled are quite happy about being moved from cramped courtyard houses to modern apartments with great facilities.
However, they complain that the community spirit is gone. There are also cases of corrupt developers pocketing their compensation money and armed thugs have been involved in illegally moving out some of the more stubborn hutong residents.
Alarmed that there may be nothing of old Beijing for the visitors to see during the Beijing Games, the Government has introduced restoration guidelines for the hutongs, requiring that they be rebuilt with original materials and retain their original grey colour. But many conservationists believe the damage has already been done.
- INDEPENDENT
