By chance I happened on the Donghuamen Snack Night Market last Friday night after having a very mediocre Chinese dinner at the Grand Hotel Beijing. (The CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) was in session and I guess all the good cooks were focused on making decent food for the politicians.)
This market is located just off of Wangfujing street, the main shopping street in Beijing. The market has about 60 stalls with all sorts of food. A lively and entertaining place to take a stroll if you’re ever in Beijing.
I only took one picture myself, but you can find more over here.
Hutong, the Chinese name for the small alleys and lanes that from small communities throughout Beijing, are quickly disappearing. In preparation for the Olympics in 2008 and to make way for more modern developments the Hutong are being torn-down and redeveloped.I took a quick rickshaw tour through a Hutong on Saturday after visiting the Forbidden City.
Most of the streets are relatively narrow. Some of the alleys are a little wider than this indicating that more important people used to live there.
The doorway to the homes tells you something about who lives/lived there. The four posts above the door, the two stone statues on either side of the door and the carvings on the walls indicate this persons rank and affiliation. In this case the lions sitting on the drums statues indicate the owner is from the military.
Behind many of the doors in the Hutong are courtyard homes like the one below. During the Cultural Revolution many families shared this one home and it took many years after the end of the Revolution for the original owners to get their homes back.
After the ride through the Hutong I enjoyed some old-style Beijing snack foods. From the upper left and going clockwise you’ve got some deep fried meat, deep fried bread-like stuff, sweet bean paste treats and finally (on the bottom left) chopped-up cow stomach. Yum!
