Xi'an to Beijing

Today was mostly a travel day. We rose early and took a flight from Xi’an to Beijing. Beijing has been the capital of China for 1000 years. It means northern capitol. It has a population similar to Shanghai of about 13 million people. Demolition and construction is evident throughout the city as they prepare for the 2008 summer Olympics.

We ate lunch and then took a pedicab (similar to a rickshaw but the driver pedals it like a bicycle) ride to a local hutong. Hutong is a kind of ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where the number of hutongs may run into several thousand. They are around the Forbidden City, many of which were built during the three dynasties of the Yuan, Ming and Qing. There have been two kinds of hutongs. One kind, usually referred to as the regular hutong, was centered closely to the east and west of the palace. Another kind, the simple and crude hutong, was mostly located to the north and south of the palace. The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles – a kind of enclosure of building complexes formed by four houses standing on the four sides.

We were taken to a hutong occupied by a couple and their 18-year-old son. The wife was employed by the tour group and volunteered to answer any questions we had through an interpreter. We asked her some very personal questions like when she got married (23), was her marriage arranged (yes) and what did she earn at the shoe factory where she used to work (depends on how many shoes you produced). She was very nice and got a kick out of some of the questions. It is unbelievable the small space this family lives in. It consists of 4 rooms, a small kitchen/utility room approximately 8” x 12”, a living/master bedroom approximately 8 x 12, the son’s room approximately 8 x 10, and a private bathroom which appeared to be about 5 x 8. It was a South-facing apartment so it was prime location. Her in-laws also lived in the same quadrangle and her son would also when he gets married. Today approximately 40 people live in the one quadrangle. In ancient times one extended family would occupy the entire quadrangle.

Our guide said he grew up and then lived in the hutong as a young adult. The government came and offered him, and everyone in the surrounding hutongs $28,500 US to move out. There was a $1500 bonus if they were out in 10 days. He was gone! The government tore down all the buildings and built high-rise apartments. The problem was to buy an apartment was $80,000. He put $20,000 down and mortgaged the rest. When the apartment was done they called him and said he would need to pay the maintenance fee, parking fee and hot water fee before they would give him the keys. That along with installing a sink, commode, tile in the bathroom and kitchen, and appliances took the $10,000 he had saved from the sale of his hutong.

Our tour director said that buying a hutong and fixing it up has become all the rage. He mentioned that Jackie Chan had bought one down the street and fixed it up into a $1,000,000 vacation home! Anyone want to invest??? Remember however that the government still owns the land……

By the way I forgot to mention it rained for the first time today while we were in the pedicabs. Luckily they had covers and we didn’t get too wet. They have four seasons like we do at home, with spring and autumn being the nicest. July will start their rainy season. Everyone is grateful for the rain as it washes the pollution out of the air.

We checked in at the Kempinski Hotel at the Lufthansa Center. It is a very nice 5 star hotel. Then many of us headed off to the Hard Rock Café Beijing for an old fashioned American meal.