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Hutongs, the ancient “streets”
A must when you visit Beijing is to walk around in the “hutongs”, the old lanes and alleys that once surrounded the Forbidden City in all directions. In the centre, there was the imperial palace, and from there was the hutongs placed for aristocrats, after rank at the court. Many of these hutongs east and west of the Forbidden City were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming (1368-1628) and Qing (1644-1908) dynasties. South and north of the Forbidden City more simple hutongs were located.
In the centre of Beijing you still find hutongs south and north of the Forbidden City, but they are getting more and more rare, as several blocks have been pulled down. But still the hutongs are large enough to get lost in, if you start your walk a few blocks south east of Tiananmen Square. The wide of the hutongs or alleys in Beijing vary between 40 centimetres (16 inches) to around 10 metres (11 yards).
"Hutong" is originally Mongolian and means “water well”, in ancient times a water well was the centre the village. Somehow, today we can consider the removal of the hutongs as an improvement - they are being replaced by modern buildings, as many hutong dwellers wanted to have better living conditions. We are now in the 21st century.
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