Answer to One China Travel Question
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Q: Traditional Chinese houses - what are they like? And what's a hutong?
| | A: Traditionally Chinese families lived in what is known as “sihe yuan” – “four-side enclosed compound.” The basic sihe yuan is consisted of four buildings, sitting on the four sides of the quadrangle. Normally the building sitting on the northern side of the compound, facing south, is occupied by the heads of the family – parents or grandparents - while the buildings on the eastern and western sides provide living quarters for the children of the family, married or unmarried. On the southern side of a sihe yuan is the gate to the whole compound.
When one walks into a sihe yuan through its entrance, one does not immediately see the main building ahead; in front of him is a little wall which serves like a screen and blocks his view. This is called a “ying bi,” or “screen wall.” To proceed further into the courtyard, the visitor must get around this structure by detouring slightly to the left or the right of it. This is for both practical and auspicious reasons. The screen wall helps to protect the family’s privacy – it wouldn't be good for a passer-by outside the main gate to see directly into the living room of the compound’s principal residents; and it is believed that the screen wall helps to keep the good fengshui of the family inside the compound.
Well-do-families often had more than one sihe yuan, which are interconnected to one another, housing members of a large, extended family, including their servants and support staff. The open spaces, the courtyards formed by the buildings on the premise, also serve an important purpose – they provide entertainment areas that are shared by the residents living in the compounds. Clearly, the layout of the sihe yuan well reflects the focus on family in traditional China.
In towns and cities of old China, especially the northern region of it, many such sihe yuan lined small lanes, known as Hutong.
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