A girl and her younger brother stand in front of a wall outside courtyard houses in central Beijing April 5, 2011. Courtyard houses, known as "Siheyuan" in Chinese, used to be one of Beijing's most distinctive features, with families living in rooms surrounding a central courtyard. Their elaborate entrances lined alleyways, called "hutongs", that criss-crossed the city. With Beijing's fast evolution into a modern metropolis, more and more hutongs are beginning to disappear. [Photo/Agencies]
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