Hutong tour

After lunch we took a rickshaw tour of Beijing's old Hutong District. This area is original old Beijing, right down to having no sewer system so the residents all have to use public toilets. An interesting feature of this area is the use of the all gray paint (pic. 1). Apparently that was by imperial degree in the old days as only the Emperor could use bright colors. It was incredibly depressing. Many of the houses appear to be in good repair. Naturally those residents don't need to have tourist traipsing through their house. We got an orientation in front of one such gate (pic. 2). At another the guide described the architectural elements of the gate and we learned how you could tell the rank of the family from the number of beams on the gate. If you were from a four beam family you should marry someone from a four beam family.

Pics. 3 and 4 were of the courtyard of the family we did visit. In the old days the parents lived on one side, the oldest son on another and the daughters shared the other. I can't recall who got the 4th side. Maybe the other sons.

We saw many small dogs in China. They all seemed well taken care of and most were a bit over weight. They were friendly and clearly indulged. When we asked about bigger dogs I got the impression they were illegal in the city due to safety concerns.

We had a separate guide for this section who rode along on her bicycle. She was delightful and informative.

After the tour we shopped at a porcelain factory and silk store as well as some interesting independent stores. The figures in pic. 4 were outside the porcelain factory as it had life size terracotta warriors for sale. I would love to have gotten one for my courtyard at home.