First-time visitors to Beijing may worry that they’ve taken a wrong turn when they alight on trafficked streets dominated by modern skyscrapers. But by exploring the narrow streets and twisted alleys ...

Gu Chen has slept and worked in the same one-room apartment in Beijing's ancient "hutong" neighbourhood of Beixinqiao all his life. Most mornings, he rises from a twin bed that he shares with his wife ...

Fifty years ago, Beijing had 3,000 hutongs — narrow alleys flanked by old, one-story houses and crowded with people. Some of the alley communities have existed for 800 years. But as Beijing modernizes ...

Reporting from Beijing — Almost every morning, Liu Yunjiang prepares a show for strangers at his house in one of Beijing’s oldest neighborhoods. He starts by tending to his birds — cockatiels, pigeons ...

BEIJING — While the posh and extravagant Pangu Plaza, housing a “seven-star hotel” and stretching immensely over five square blocks in the shape of a dragon, is the ultra-modern face that China has ...

Hutongs are part and parcel of ancient Beijing. They are where young and old cross paths. Sales are still door-to-door and a neighbor lady acts as security guard. Some hutongs are made up of courtyard ...

In northern China, hutongs are thin, narrow alleyways lined with cramped single-story houses in which families live communally, sometimes for generations. Depending on your point of view, to enter ...

In the early morning light, Zhuan Ta Hutong comes to life. Narrow alleys glow with soft sunlight, casting long shadows across brick walls. The scent of street food mingles with the hum of daily life, ...

BEIJING — Beijing’s latest urban preservation campaign swung like a wrecking ball this summer through the colorful shops along Yonghegong Street, a tree-lined road between two of the city’s landmarks: ...

A woman passes through a neighborhood being demolished to make way for new developments in Beijing. Once common, hutongs are becoming a rare sight in the capital. PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images Though ...