The Last days of Old Beijing

What is tradition? What is heritage? How do we treat culture, both tangible and intangible, and how does it intersect with our lives?

An important issue in urban development is the question of what happens to the architecture and to the living communities that were already there before. Beijing contains numerous lanes and alleyways called hutongs, largely constructed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. These hutongs are lined with courtyard homes (siheyuan), some of which have been lived in by the same families for generations. 

As the pace of development has accelerated over the past two decades, many hutong have been demolished. Shopping malls and office buildings have been erected in their place, and residents are often relocated to new apartments on the outskirts of the city, far from their original homes.

One of the texts we use in this course is the highly-regarded book The Last Days of Old Beijing, which chronicles the city from the perspective of present-day hutong residents. The author, Michael Meyer, spent three years living in the hutong, getting to know his neighbors and documenting life in the community. It is our distinct pleasure to announce that Mr. Meyer will be visiting our class next month to chat with our students about Beijing's development.

[Slate.com]

Originally published in 2008, The Last Days of Old Beijing has just been released in Chinese-language editions in Taiwan (left) and China (right). We look forward to hearing Mr. Meyer's insights when he joins us in May.