We are mounting in pedicabs to ride around a hutong area and learn about this communal living.
This is the drum tower and plaza where we got into the pedicabs. The hutong area that we visited, one of many, is right behind the Drum Tower.
Go back in time for a moment: (photos out of order!) Ridley and Paige standing in the doorway of the private room where we had lunch after the Forbidden City, and before the hutong tour.
The restaurant where we had lunch.
Back into the hutong world. This is the courtyard of a private hutong that we toured.
The family living in this courtyard house has owned it for hundreds of years. They were kicked out during the cultural revolution when the family was dispersed for reeducation in the rural areas, but were able to move back in. Many generations of the same family live here, nine people total at the moment. The grandfather, in his 90's, still walks the hutong lanes picking up trash. A very familiar figure on the streets. The sense of community is so large and wonderful in this kind of living, but also where we are in the lane house. People are very aware of each other and really take care of their neighbors. We definitely feel that where we are.
There are several separate buildings all around a courtyard: kitchen, dining area, living room, bedrooms. In hutongs, courtyard living, there would be a communal bathroom down the street where everyone went. The bathrooms are still around and in use in all the different areas we visited, but some of the homes have installed their own bathrooms. This home had one for their family. Before the installation, they used chamber pots in the evening, and the "honey truck" would come by and collect the refuse. I have a friend in a lane house in Shanghai who had the "honey truck" come down their lane collecting until last year when major renovations were done to the buildings. This private bathroom idea is still an upcoming thing in many places here! Young people have become accustomed to this idea and it is one of the reasons why they want their own place and aren't continuing the group living with their families, if at all possible. (At least in the cities where they make more money and have more independence.) They are liking the new found privacy that money brings.
Sorry about the out of order pictures. Back to the pedicab and the plaza of the Drum Tower where locals hang and play card games, mahjongg and other games. These groups of people are found in every city, in every park, on the sidewalks, anywhere they can set up a table and meet each other.
In the living room portion of the hutong. The woman who lives here showed us beautiful pictures of her family in the house over the years, going back to the early 1900's. Paige and Storey gave the woman commemorative quarters that we brought from the States of the states to which we belong in one way or another: MO, ID, CA & CT. She was so pleased and gave the girls each cut paper art. She did them. I have to find a way to keep them, they are so delicate.
In the courtyard with fruit trees, birds, dogs, cats. They had it all! A little tricky when it is cold and wet out, running from building to building.
We are mounting in pedicabs to ride around a hutong area and learn about this communal living.
This is the drum tower and plaza where we got into the pedicabs. The hutong area that we visited, one of many, is right behind the Drum Tower.
Go back in time for a moment: (photos out of order!) Ridley and Paige standing in the doorway of the private room where we had lunch after the Forbidden City, and before the hutong tour.
The restaurant where we had lunch.
Back into the hutong world. This is the courtyard of a private hutong that we toured.
The family living in this courtyard house has owned it for hundreds of years. They were kicked out during the cultural revolution when the family was dispersed for reeducation in the rural areas, but were able to move back in. Many generations of the same family live here, nine people total at the moment. The grandfather, in his 90's, still walks the hutong lanes picking up trash. A very familiar figure on the streets. The sense of community is so large and wonderful in this kind of living, but also where we are in the lane house. People are very aware of each other and really take care of their neighbors. We definitely feel that where we are.
There are several separate buildings all around a courtyard: kitchen, dining area, living room, bedrooms. In hutongs, courtyard living, there would be a communal bathroom down the street where everyone went. The bathrooms are still around and in use in all the different areas we visited, but some of the homes have installed their own bathrooms. This home had one for their family. Before the installation, they used chamber pots in the evening, and the "honey truck" would come by and collect the refuse. I have a friend in a lane house in Shanghai who had the "honey truck" come down their lane collecting until last year when major renovations were done to the buildings. This private bathroom idea is still an upcoming thing in many places here! Young people have become accustomed to this idea and it is one of the reasons why they want their own place and aren't continuing the group living with their families, if at all possible. (At least in the cities where they make more money and have more independence.) They are liking the new found privacy that money brings.
Sorry about the out of order pictures. Back to the pedicab and the plaza of the Drum Tower where locals hang and play card games, mahjongg and other games. These groups of people are found in every city, in every park, on the sidewalks, anywhere they can set up a table and meet each other.
In the living room portion of the hutong. The woman who lives here showed us beautiful pictures of her family in the house over the years, going back to the early 1900's. Paige and Storey gave the woman commemorative quarters that we brought from the States of the states to which we belong in one way or another: MO, ID, CA & CT. She was so pleased and gave the girls each cut paper art. She did them. I have to find a way to keep them, they are so delicate.
In the courtyard with fruit trees, birds, dogs, cats. They had it all! A little tricky when it is cold and wet out, running from building to building.
1 comment:
Marcelle, I have so enjoyed reading about your adventures. It is so fun to see pictures of you, Ridley, the girls and now LuLu! I check in a couple times a week to get caught up. Mom and I talk about your latest updates every week when we talk on the phone. Give my love to everyone and tell LuLu I can't wait to talk to her when she gets back to St. Louis.
On another note, I have nine more weeks to go and am looking quite pregnant now.
Much love,
Angela
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