Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

In Beijing buying a home would be the equivalent of buying a condominium in North America, and the majority of people live in high-rise apartment buildings. There are single family homes in the hutongs and in the countryside,but the hutongs in Beijing are rapidly disappearing. Unlike North America Beijing’s growth is mostly upwards. Instead of more and more subdivisions Beijing is building more and more high-rises. Friends of ours tell us the same thing is happening in most major Chinese cities whereas change comes slowly in the countryside. We live on the tenth floor of a twelve storey building which is not large by Beijing standards.

On my bike ride this morning I took some photos that I hope will help explain where the people live here.

These lane-ways are called hutongs and they are formed by several walled homes arranged in a quadrangle around a central courtyard. At one time these laneways covered large areas of the city.

About a month ago I saw about thirty men working here recycling brick and other building materials – very little is wasted.

These apartments or homes are on the opposite side of the street from where the hutong is being demolished. In just a short time the demolished area will look like this.

This building is not finished yet and you can still see the exterior wall of the old hutong that remains standing.

This is the bike shop where I got my bike pedal fixed. the three wheeled bike with tires and the box is the entire store. Ten days ago it was cold and snowing when he fixed my bike. Today he has another customer – the three wheeled bike on the stool with the missing wheel. He is off to the left fixing a tire.

It’s not uncommon to see people working right on the sidewalk. They don’t know the phrase “can’t be done.”

Older-style homes(condos) that originally replaced the hutongs.

The older homes are only six stories – small compared to their high-rise neighbours.