Category: Blogs

I discovered this ancient temple in a construction site totally by accident, which is hidden in a deserted factory site. Originally built in Yuan Dynasty nearly 800 years ago, the Hong En Guan was renovated by one of Empress Dowager Cixi’s favorite eunuch as a retreat by late Qing Dynasty. In the past decades, it was used as local food market, coffee shop and a living space for more than 60 families. It is located in the end of the central axis of the ancient Beijing City, also called the “dragon tail”.

 

Yesterday afternoon, when I witnessed its grandeur, I can hear it sigh with helplessness in the smoke and dust of the construction site. It will be renovated soon again, hopefully with its original beauty kept.

 

Join the Beijing Way Program with Yuhua and explore more hidden gems of Beijing, please check out more about our programs at theBeijingWay.com.

Prince Qing’s Mansion, the former residence of the uncle of the last emperor of China,  where my old house is located and where I spent half of my lifetime. The best preserved Xiulou in Beijing is even more beautiful than in my dream, whereas a wall was built up which literally blocked my way back to the old house, the home.

It was such a pleasure attending the performing lecture by Director of Beijing Old Objects Museum, which was so vividly and splendidly presented with street vendors chanting and playing various instruments from old Beijing hutongs. And it is the only private museum in Beijing where you can touch with your hands these hundreds of years of old things. Ancient Chinese people pay special attention to Gewu, which means to take things to view self and take self to view things. In what kind of state of mind, what kind of things are made. What we have transferred from generation to generation, is that state of mind.

Wandering around Beijing’s Hutong is like a treasure hunt. Shijia Hutong Museum is located in the celebrity hutong where many well-known people once lived, such as one of the three talented women in Republic of China, Ms. Ling Shuhua. The hutong sound display hall can bring you back immediately to 1980’s or 1930’s old Beijing hutongs, the crying cat, people’s greetings, and street vendors chanting and playing their instruments.