Comment
On 'Hutong worth more than money'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-29 11:37
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Hutong is not what you think
Only people who have lived in a hutong can know how terrible life is there. Residents are crowded into a small space, and the only private space is a bed.
How can such a life be harmonious? You might see people greet each other, but you will never know how they compete with each other for a small space in their common courtyard where individual belongings such as coal, wood, bicycles and rubbish are piled.
Not all things in old times are worth keeping, and this means most hutong courtyards. Many of them belong to shanty-towns, except for a small portion that was for imperial families, or the rich and famous people. We actually applauded when we heard news that the area where we had lived for several decades would be demolished.
No one wants to live a terrible life just for the sake of protecting heritage. If you need a new life, you must demolish the old one.
zsp
Slums can have a comeback
I remember back in the 1970s a lot more of central Beijing had these wonderful organic developments, the hutong. As to modern conveniences, they can be developed in these sites in the same way as in the ancient heart of many other cities in the world.
But does anybody ever ask the residents what they want? The destruction in downtown Shanghai of ancient houses is even more extensive than in Beijing. If one looks ahead a little... in London many of the old houses were destroyed in "slum clearance" and replaced by ugly tower blocks which are now being demolished.
The "old slums" of London that survived are now some of the most highly prized and expensive dwellings in the capital!
Sheila Hillier
False feelings by comfy expats
What the writer says does make sense, in terms of the need to preserve the heritage of the city. But what he and a lot of other foreigners tend to conveniently ignore when talking about the hutong problem is that while it may be quaint and interesting to see other people living in such small, cramped conditions with a lack of modern amenities or conveniences such as even a toilet, if they were truly forced to exchange their own spacious modern housing with those of the hutong dweller, very few, if any at all, would be willing to trade places.
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