A glorious life through the eye of a hutong hunter
Liu Cong has been living in Beijing since 2012 and has been fascinated by one particular aspect of the city: the hutong. She enjoys riding a bicycle and wandering through hutong neighborhoods, where people go about their daily lives often in a public space. These narrow alleys have trees, small shops and gray-walled courtyards, or siheyuan. All contribute to a sense of community and offer a glimpse of a fast disappearing way of life.
Liu, a 34-year-old illustrator, is also keen on portraying traditional Beijing lifestyle highlighting the beauty of everyday life in hutong.
Last year, she moved to a courtyard in Chaodou hutong nearby Nanluoguxiang, in the downtown Dongcheng district of the capital, living with her friend, architect Jie Xiaofeng. There, Liu started a series of illustrations focusing on people riding bikes, tricycles and motorcycles with two or three wheels. Those 23 illustrations are being displayed at the Shijia Hutong Museum, in an exhibition, titled Wandering, which kicked off on June 12 and runs until June 27.
“Unlike skyscrapers or boxy apartment complexes, hutong are quiet and tranquil,’’ says Liu, also an art writer and columnist, who was born in Shaanxi province and graduated from Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, or simply École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in France. “Because of the limited space, people use bikes and motorcycles every day. It’s hard to ignore them in hutong.”
The illustrator captures people of all ages and their vehicles with her works, such as elderly couples picking up and sending their grandchildren to school, young lovers leaving and returning to their homes together, and vendors selling things as diverse as vegetables and steamed buns.
“Life in hutong is vibrant with people all coexisting together,” says Liu. “I like observing people in hutong. Though the city has changed a lot, the fascinations of wandering in hutong never flagged.”
Before Liu moved into the courtyard, she lived in the nearby Yonghegong area, or Lama Temple. One day she saw an elderly man riding on his bike taking his bird out. The bird cage was hanging on the bike, which intrigued Liu. She took a photo of the man and turned it into a painting. After Liu moved into the courtyard, surprisingly, she realized that the man she painted lives in her neighborhood.
Now, Liu is working on another series of paintings, highlighting hutong names.
These days, tourists are flocking to the hutong neighborhoods, trying to get a glimpse of the romantic ideal of “authentic Beijing”.
“Each of the courtyards hidden in the hutong are different and full of the wisdom of the residents. They fully use the limited space to create a cozy and convenient environment for their families,” says architect Jie, 34, who has been living in Beijing’s hutong since 2014. She says that what she loves about living in hutong is that “it enables me to observe the four seasons with trees over my roof and it offers a kind of close connection with my neighbors”.
Born in Jiangxi province, Jie graduated from Tsinghua University and the Ecole Nationale Superieure d‘Architecture de Paris-Bellevillein. As a researcher in School of Architecture in Tsinghua
University, Jie works in the fields of cultural heritage protection and architectural design, protection and planning of historic districts.
“It’s interesting to notice that people decorate their vehicles with colors and functional devices, such as a water-resistant canopy and gloves to keep their hands warm in winter. Like their homes in courtyards, their vehicles are also different and full of creative ideas,” says Jie. “We want to present the hutong life with these paintings, which tell stories and showcase the unique hutong life.”
Shijia Hutong Museum seems to be a great choice to exhibit Liu’s watercolor paintings, which are small-sized and exquisite.
Located nearby the Chang’an Avenue and Wangfujing Street, Shijia Hutong Museum, which resides in the courtyard of Shijia Hutong No 24, opened in November 2014 with funding and support from the Prince’s Charities Foundation (China) and the Chaoyangmen authorities. It is the first facility in Beijing established specifically to preserve hutong history. Shijia hutong has been home to a number of well-known figures, including writers Chen Xiying (1896-1970) and Ling Shuhua (190090), and prominent scholar and politician Zhang Shizhao (1881-1973).
Beijing’s downtown hutong were mostly constructed in the 13th century, when the city became the imperial capital during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
According to Liu Jingyi, deputy director of the Shijia Hutong Museum, the museum offers exhibitions with Chinese and English descriptions, showcasing the history and development of Shijia hutong, along with stories from residents and celebrities.
“We’ve done a series of programs to show visitors what makes hutong life so appealing. Liu Cong’s paintings are vivid and loyal to the people and their lives in hutong,” says Liu Jingyi, a Beijing native, who graduated from North China University of Technology in Beijing with a major in urban planning. She furthered her studies in the United Kingdom, obtaining a master’s degree in urban planning and development from the University of Reading in 2014. The following year, she started work at the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning & Design, and began working with the Shijia Hutong Museum in 2016.