During the Qing dynasty (and even earlier), hutong were the grand homes of high government officials and military officers.  The size and shape of the two drum stones at the entrance to each hutong, which can be seen here, indicated the rank and status of its occupant.  This one, near the north entrance of Beihai Park, has been kept in excellent condition.

The first time I visited this historic hutong area north of the Forbidden City near Beihai Park in Beijing, I wanted to come back after a snowfall, and photograph it in black and white.  My opportunity came in late January.  Because the buildings are quite gray and colorless in winter - like much in Beijing - photographing in color wouldn’t have shown much anyway.  This is a windowsill of one of the many old buildings within one hutong complex.

Long ago, hutong were occupied by a single extended family.  Today, they are occupied by lower-income families of Beijing, with many families living within a single complex.  Today, a quarter of Beijing’s population live in hutong built less than a hundred years ago, but even the historic hutong like this one are crowded.  That’s a Chinese broom standing upended on the right.

Unlike the rest of Beijing these days, few cars can be found in the historic hutong area.  Pedicabs by tour guides seem to be the most frequent form of transportation used, along with bicycles - a reflection of how much of Beijing use to be just half a century ago.

Most of the hutong here are in poor shape, and makeshift homes have been built within their courtyards to house even more people.  The roof of this small shack, where I could hear half a dozen people talking busily inside, is only corrugated metal sheeting held down by bricks.

These small shacks with tiny doorways are fortunately not homes; they are used for storage.

A boy returns home from school.  Though these pictures are black and white, the brick walls are truly just as gray as seen here.

The old courtyards, or siheyuan, of historic hutong use to be Chinese gardens.  Now housed with many poor, they are usually filled with piles of old furniture, building material parts, and charcoal for heating.  On cold days, the sharp smell of charcoal fills the air here.

Across a small bridge over Qianhai Hu - one of the “Back Lakes” - is the shopping area for this hutong area, full of shops and street vendors.

Scenery along the north side of Qianhai Hu, frozen and covered with snow.  The hutong just across the street from this area were restored to very good shape, but they were not homes; instead, they served as kindergartens and doctors offices.

A hutong entrance near sunset.  This following group of pictures was taken a few days later; despite the extreme cold, less snow was around.

Close-up of one the old roof tiles of that same hutong, with one of the “Back Lakes” in the background.  The hutong located directly beside the lake tend to be in very good condition.

Typical entrance to one of the poorer hutong.  Couplets of Chinese poetry can be found on many entryways, as here.  Note the solar-powered water heater on the roof.

Roofline of one of the restored hutong.  Restoring one of these complexes into a home can cost millions of dollars, and it tends to be today’s high government officials who do so.  But such extravagance sometimes comes at a price: apparently a former mayor of Beijing who lived in one of these was executed for corruption.

Restoration begins on another hutong.  Restoration efforts are sporadic at best in this area, and are conducted by individuals, though they are officially protected by the government.  One huge area of hutong north of the lakes had been completely leveled, with no indication of what was to be built in its place; however, if recent history is any indication, office buildings and apartments of dubious construction will be built there.

Many of the hutong areas will be swept away over the coming years, as Beijing clears entire neighborhoods for city improvement before the 2008 Olympic Games; however, historic areas such as this one are to be preserved.  A government project to construct a hutong look-alike complex of shops along a busy nearby street proved unpopular, partially because they were built to today’s low standards of construction.  They will likely crumble quickly, where historic hutong like this one have stood for a hundred years - sometimes many hundreds - and will likely stand at least a hundred more.