Secrets of a hutong home revealed

There are four rooms available at Jing's house: 3 doubles and one single room, priced at 400 yuan ($58.8) per night for each, including a breakfast of bread, eggs and other food. The houses and the garden in the middle fit together elegantly, revealing the considerable attention that has been brought to its design and care.

Jing says all the buildings mean different things. Moon Gate, for example, the second door of the courtyard, is meant to bless the family to be reunited.

The house on the north side is the main house, normally inhabited by the parents. It's warm in winter and cool in summer because the windows face the south. The rooms on the east and west are the sub-houses. According to Chinese tradition, the east room is for the son and the west for the daughter. The size of the rooms cannot be bigger than the main house, in order to show respect to their parents.

A pomegranate tree, deliberately planted in the front of the girl's room, is alive with the sound of birds, auguring well for the girl to bear more children in the future. A lilac tree is opposite, a propitious omen from the east to bless the son.

China Daily

(China Daily 07/28/2008 page8)