Zhang Wei started the Web site oldbeijing.org eight years ago to chart the decline in the number of Beijing's hutongs and believes only 500 remain of the estimated 3,000 that existed six decades ago.

To many, the true essence of Beijing is found in the nooks and crannies of the city’s hutongs: traditional lanes packed with single-story houses. Gentrification is common in these rustic havens ...

How many hutongs are there in Beijing? Old local residents have a saying: "There are 360 large hutongs and as many small hutongs as there are hairs on an ox." Laid out in a chessboard pattern ...

That central party zone for moneyed Chinese youth is part of the intrigue of modern-day Beijing. But for many of its 22 million residents, the true spirit of the city runs through its hutongs ...

French artist and architect Clara Bryon. [Photo provided to China Daily] Bryon spent her Beijing residency living in a hutong, an alleyway courtyard residence. To her, the city revealed itself in ...

Shortlisted for rebirth project of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020, MAD has overhauled a vacant courtyard house in an ancient hutong in Beijing, adding two bubble-like sculptures. Hutong Bubble 218 ...

In a maze of hutongs in central Beijing, the Mandarin Oriental has opened its second hotel in the capital city. Some of the residential courtyards that make up these small alleys have been ...