About three weeks ago, when I was still living at my hutong apartment I woke up one Saturday morning to a lot of commotion on the street. It wasn't the normal Hutong commotion of used goods recyclers, rice and corn sellers, and knife sharpeners I had heard from 7 am onwards each morning living there, but instead it was my neighbors all talking about something.
When I went to the bathroom, I saw a large notice plastered on the wall at the entrance to the Hutong. It announced the destruction of the east side of the hutong's courtyard houses. They basically are making the hutong, which right now is barely wide enough for a car to pass through, into a two way hutong that will cut straight down to Ping'an Street due south of the main street East Drumtower Street. The result will be the destruction of about 10 courtyard houses and the relocation of about 100 families. The restaurant across the hutong from me will have to move to a new location if they want to remain in business.
When I first read the notice I was blown away. That first reaction of "how can they do this?" came right up in my mind. I talked about it with the bosses of the restaurant Hutong Kitchen at which I have been a regular for the last six months. "There's nothing we can do about it, but at least they will pay some money for it all." How much? "I'm hoping at least 5,000 RMB per square meter." Someone else had heard 8 - 15,000 RMB and the boss of the nearby real estate agency had heard a lot more for each. The bosses said it couldn't be very high, probably lowballed. A full courtyard house of several hundred square meters (completely unfinished and without very nice bathroom facilities) could sell for over 1.1 million US dollars. When they are purchased by wealthy Chinese and foreigners they are gutted and refitted for another several million US dollars. While they are a prime piece of real estate, there is a little bit of a gamble in the purchase.
Lately, people agreed that that gamble was a lot less. Beijing had claimed the area I lived in west to Desheng Gate and East to Jiaodaokou (several square miles of courtyard houses) as a "culturally protected area" that "cannot be torn down." Of course they cannot be torn down unless there are certain circumstances. Already north of where I lived a large section had been torn down for the new Drumtower Subway station and to the south for the Nanluoguxiang Station another area had been completely torn down.
A five minute walk east from my hutong there is a larger hutong that is famous for it's revitalization as a shopping and bar street--Nanluoguxiang. It is an attraction for both locals and tourists, but the biggest problem with it is that cars can still drive through it. I heard they are tearing down the hutong where I used to live in order to make a parking lot as well as a through street for cars, that way Nanluoguxiang can become a walking street and people can have a place to park, thus opening up traffic on the main throughfare. It is all a good thought for making Nanluoguxiang a more pleasant place to visit, but it means that the true culture of the hutongs will be lost to make room for the cleaned up and trendier hutong Nanluoguxiang. Over the next two years the whole area will be transformed into a large tourist area reminiscent of what has happened in the south of the city at Qianmen (the front gate to the south of Tian'anmen square)--incredibly high rents, tourist haven, and without the culture and original flare that most people are searching for in the hutongs. This two year plan will also mean the relocation of all the families in that area.
This includes the families that are refitting their hutongs, spending large amounts of money to bring them into the 21st century, adding plumbing amenities and cleaning them up. The boss of the Hutong Kitchen had just finished the refurbishment of his family's courtyard house, they had been enjoying it for about a week before the second sign went up announcing the first phase of destruction (the east side of the hutong I lived in, which includes his rented restaurant space) to be finished before October 1st and the rest of the destructions to take place over the next two years (which includes his newly refinished house). "Mei banfa de," he told me "nothing can be done about it."
I asked my landlords about it, they said before the signs went up no one knew anything about this plan for the destruction of Hougulouyuan Hutong. They were just happy it was the opposite side and not their side.
The relocation is a whole other aspect to the destruction. The government lowballs the prices of the hutongs and leaves the families with a small amount of cash for their once prime real estate. While the money is enough to buy a new house, the closest place they can afford to buy an apartment is outside of the fifth ring road, over an hour subway ride from the part of the city they live in currently.
Another neighbor that used to work as a manager of a factory walks his dog every night and I talked to him a little bit about the destruction of his home. He looked tired and sad but said the same refrain that had been echoed up and down the hutong since the sign went up. "There's nothing we can do. jiu mei banfa de."
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