Beijing Postcard

As we have just seen the Chinese New Year pass, the year of the rabbit...I thought Id dig out something from Beijing.

Beijing was such a pleasant suprise, trendy, hip and happening. As we stepped out of our hotel it was like we had entered another world, narrow streets lit by red lanterns led us down to the unexpected and trendy hutong* in the Dong Cheng district.

Beijing Postcards presented a small shop is a window into a lost world.... the owners collect old China photographs from the period from 1890-1940s. These are used to make large high quality reproduction photos.  The photos have been collected over the years from flea markets, auctions and even private collections with some dating as as old as a century. Short descriptions on the back give a concise history.

Collection of bits I bought at Beijing postcard

There has always been a preference for boys in China. To fool the devils and the evil spirits the Chinese used to dress up their boys as girls, give them girls names, have them wear earrings and had their hair put up like girls.

Nan Luo Gu Xiang, the hutong on which Beijing Postcard is situated was built 700 year ago in the Yuan dynasty and is mainly a protected street of traditional courtyard homes called Siheyuan. The street is about 1000 meters long with 8 symmetrical lanes, or Hutong, on both the East and West sides. The lane is so neat that it looks like a centipede. This is where it got its second name, "Centipede Street."

* Hutongs are a type of narrow streets , most commonly associated with Beijing. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences.