A Cherished way of life
Beijing’s southern districts open a window into the city’s storied past
In the classic novel Memories of Peking:
South Side Stories, the late writer Lin Hai-yin offers a glimpse of Beijing in the 1920s through the keen eyes and curious mind of Yingzi, a young girl.
Lin (1918-2001) depicts typical scenes in southern areas of the city during her childhood, including narrow or alleyways, courtyards, and local food.
She also wrote a short article after the novel was published in 1960, in which she recounted her memories of these areas.
Before her book appeared, Lin, who was born in Osaka, Japan, raised in Beijing and moved to Taiwan in 1948, wrote: “I miss what I saw and the people I met during my childhood in the southern part of Beijing. I told myself that I would write these memories down. Let my childhood live forever in my heart.”
Southern Beijing — nan cheng in Chinese — has also appeared in the work of renowned writer Lao She (1899-1966).
Born as Shu Qingchun to a Manchu family in Beijing in 1899, he is bestknown for his vivid descriptions of ordinary life, especially among poor people. His precise depictions of local hutong life sparkle with his unique sense of humor and the capital’s raw dialect.
Life in the south of the city in those days was the direct opposite to present-day Beijing, being slow-paced and lacking the city’s signature modern-day rapid development.
In June, when a new cluster of COVID-19 cases was detected at the Xinfadi wholesale market in the southwest of the city, more infections appeared in southern areas of the city, putting nan cheng in the spotlight once more.
Comprising areas south of Chang’an Avenue, including Fengtai district and the former Xuanwu and Chongwen districts, nan cheng is home to many native Beijingers and is usually associated with their traditional way of life.
In 2010, Beijing authorities merged Xuanwu into Xicheng district and Chongwen into Dongcheng district, to promote development. As a result, unlike the older generation, younger people are unfamiliar with the saying “poor Xuanwu and dilapidated Chongwen”.
Beijing native Hu Guozhen, 66, said: “The capital has drastically changed and is now well-developed — totally different from when I was a child. However, I still enjoy living here, which has given me a sense of belonging.”
In 1998, Hu, who was born and raised in a populous courtyard tucked away in a hutong area of Caishikou in Xuanwu, moved to a 19-story residential building in the Majiapu area of Fengtai — about a 15-minute drive away.
Her parents were Beijing natives and she grew up in the south of the city, where her husband, Wang Dezhi, 68, comes from. Hu still owns her parents’ 15-square-meter house in Caishikou.
“We didn’t rent out the house, because our grandson will go to a kindergarten near Caishikou this year and we will move back there during the week. It’s a cozy house, but small,” said Hu, adding that she prefers living in the courtyard to a residential building.
“Many old neighbors still live there. We still keep in touch and visit them,” she added.
For Hu and her husband, living in the courtyard enables them to visit nearby parks and to watch their grandson growing up.
Like many people, she has followed government advice to stay at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Her only daughter, Wang Rong, 38, who works in a bank near her home, said: “I was born and grew up in the house in Caishikou, where I loved playing with my friends in the narrow hutongs. The house was hidden away among tall trees and gray walls.”
She said she knew everyone living in her courtyard, which was home to about 50 people. “They bought daily supplies from the same stores near the hutong area. Some built pigeon nests on the roofs, and we visited our neighbors without changing out of our pajamas,” she added.
With the emergence of COVID-19, areas of the city have been categorized as low, medium or high risk, with different measures taken according to the level of risk.
On June 20, the Majiapu area, where Hu and her family live, was categorized as medium risk. The following day, Wang and her family underwent nucleic acid testing, returning negative results.
Li Jianping, director of the Beijing History Research Association, said the south of the city is known for its centuries-old hutongs and courtyards. The old way of life can still be seen in these areas, although many families moved to different parts of the city after plans to renovate the old neighborhoods were announced in the early 1990s.
In 2011, the Beijing municipal government launched a campaign for the main historical sites along the city’s central south-north axis to be included as part of the application for the world’s cultural heritage status. Li said ancient locations have been protected and renovated, becoming popular tourist areas for visitors and locals.
During the Yuan Dynasty (12711368), the central axis stretched for 3.7 kilometers. During the Ming (13681644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, it lengthened to 7.8 km, running from Yongdingmen in the south to the Bell and Drum Towers in the north. In 2003, the central axis was extended again as Beijing prepared to host the 2008 Olympic Games.
When Beijing Daxing International Airport opened in September, development in southern areas of the city accelerated.
However, for many native Beijingers, the term nan cheng still refers to Fengtai and the former Xuanwu and Chongwen districts.
Niujie, which translates as Cow Street and is located in the former Xuanwu district about 5 km from Tian’anmen Square, is home to the city’s largest population of the traditionally Muslim Hui ethnic group.
Niujie Mosque, built in 996 during the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), is a popular place to buy homemade halal food, beef and mutton.
Every morning, as early as 4 am, beef and mutton traders start work. At about 5:30 am, elderly people visit small neighborhood restaurants to have breakfast, which includes jellied bean curd, deep-fried dough sticks and douzhi, a traditional fermented Beijing drink made from ground beans.
Hui people ran many small family businesses in the neighborhood, and over the years these traditions have been maintained.
Ma Enci, consultant to the Niujie Halal Chamber of Commerce, a local food organization founded in August 2015, said: “All the food sold in Niujie relates to the history of the Hui ethnic people. It also reflects the tastes of old Beijingers.”
Zhang Ran, 39, born and raised in Niujie, said: “I have never considered leaving the area, because it’s convenient to buy halal food, and all my childhood mates live here.”
Like many Beijingers of his generation, Zhang lived in a courtyard, home to more than 20 families. They shared tap water, a public toilet and a kitchen.
After he married nine years ago, Zhang bought an apartment in Daxing district on the southern outskirts of Beijing, as property there is much cheaper than in Niujie. However, he now lives with his parents, because his 7-year-old daughter goes to a primary school in Niujie.
“We are happy with our lives even though we are not wealthy,” said Zhang, who earns about 6,000 yuan ($857) a month as a bus driver. “Niujie has changed a lot, with hutongs disappearing and new neighbors moving in. My parents and myself are getting old. I miss the old Niujie every day.”
In Tianqiao, a 15-minute drive from Niujie, street players gather to perform a variety of shows, including xiangsheng (crosstalk), acrobatics, Peking Opera and pingshu, a traditional Chinese form of storytelling.
In 1957, a group of acrobats performing in Tianqiao founded the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe, which won a large audience with jaw-dropping feats. Acrobatic skills, along with those for making halal food, have been passed down through the generations.
In 1995, the troupe performed a diabolo act at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris, winning a gold medal. The following year, the act was presented by Cirque du Soleil, jumpstarting a long association with the Canadian entertainment company.
Wang Xiaoying, president of the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe, said: “In the past, only poor people let their children learn acrobatics, because it took years of hard training to become professional. Now, with the physical demands placed on acrobats, even fewer young people choose to practice the old art form.” New features, he added, including lighting effects and 3D projections, are needed to attract modern audiences.
To celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2017, the troupe invited retired acrobats to train young performers. The retirees, in their 70s and 80s, spent their working lives mastering the diabolo and doing contortions.
Since 2015, when the 16,000-squaremeter Tianqiao Performing Arts Center opened, the area has become a popular destination for musicals from around the world, including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera and Komische Oper Berlin’s production of The Magic Flute.
Southern Beijing has also witnessed the rise of Peking Opera, a 200-yearold traditional art form combining song, dance, acrobatics and martial arts.
In 1790, four Hui Opera troupes visited Beijing for the 80th birthday of the Emperor Qianlong (1711-99), and stayed in the south of the city. Hui opera, or Huiju, is a form of Peking opera from Anhui province.
Around 1840, Peking Opera began to formally take shape, growing rapidly during the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), a Chinese opera lover. Troupes were being formed in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.
Many ancient locations in southern Beijing today exist as tourist sites. The Qianmen area near Tian’anmen Square is home to a pedestrian street and stores from home and abroad. Another must-visit location is the Lao She Teahouse, which offers local snacks, tea and performances, including Peking Opera and crosstalk.
Since 2010, the Beijing municipal government has drawn up plans to renovate southern areas of the city. Balancing development of the northern and southern parts of the capital was included in the Beijing Urban Master Plan (2016-2035), released in September 2017.