Juxtaposed Cultures of the Hutongs

"Why do you want to live in a hutong? It's full of old people!"

I was talking to a friend of mine on the train back from Qinhuangdao (a city about two hours east of Beijing by train). We both work in the office for the Beijing Sailing Center and had spent the weekend sailing in Qinhuangdao, where our company has their sailing center. She was so confused about why I wanted to live in a hutong courtyard house... She thinks of all hutongs as strictly filled with old people. And she does have a point, it seems that most people that live in these areas of the city are nearing or past the age of retirement. Thirty to forty year old fathers and mothers have all moved out of the hutongs and into apartment buildings. While that may be true, I still find the area I live in quite youthful.

I live on East Drumtower Street. If you were to page through a youth magazine here in Beijing, about half of the stores they talk about are located within a fifteen minute walk from my door. I live within fifteen minutes of the Central Academy of Drama, located along NanLuoGuXiang, a "traditional" style hutong, which, while once was very traditional, now is lined with coffee shops, stores of all kinds, and many bars. Walking along the street is a good mix of foreign and Chinese tourists, twenty and thirty-something Beijingers, and local area residents. There are the local retired men and women that sit on their foldable stools people watching, but they sit in front of the trendy clothing stores, popular t-shirt shops, or bars playing music with their windows open to the street. 

This really represents the area I live in, it's filled with juxtaposed images. The hutongs are filled with a large amount of "Old Beijing" residents, they're retired, gossipy, some wear the red sleeve arm badge that shows they are a community volunteer, others just like to smoke, drink, and fan themselves... But while they fan themselves they are sitting in front of Guitar shops, clothes stores, and Korean and Japanese import boutiques filled with cell phone jewelry and Doraemon products--the stores that every Chinese girl from age ten to forty has to stop in just to browse. The retired locals saunter down the street greeting the other retired locals they know as they are passed by young professionals, college students, and high schoolers walking arm and arm hurrying to the next store, restaurant, or bar. The retired locals are still living in the heart of Beijing, while the youth, the people that refuse to live in one floored houses in the hutongs come back for the cultural hub that stretches from Houhai (a bar district around two lakes) to Jiaodaokou, from the Gulou bridge to the Dianmen intersection.

I like this juxtaposition, the people my age who can't figure out why I would want to live in a hutong in the middle of the city can't help but come to my neighborhood every weekend. I love the culture of this area, whether it's the old people's culture--the gossiping about their neighbors and me and shouting to the people they know; and, at the same time, being surrounded by the stores and places that are favored by young professional Beijingers and are run by and influencing the youth of China.