Beijing Hutong

It was a daytime arrival in Beijing so I could peer through the aeroplane window and enjoy seeing the landscape unroll as we neared touchdown. Hills gave way to a flat plain that was scored with roads and chequered with angular open-sided fields, brown for winter. Soon urban developments became dominant and even from above, the great height of a lot of the buildings was very evident. As we dropped lower to Beijing the air became hazier (smog or winter?) so on landing the sun was weak and watery looking. However, the temperature was below freezing and dry with no wind when we touched down. After a number of mis-directions in the airport regarding where to go and how to enter your fingerprints - so they matched the ones taken in Edinburgh I suppose, I was re-united with my suitcase, and with rucksack and bag, trundled through the Arrivals gate.
And there, as he had promised, waiting to meet me, was my dear eldest son. He lives in China and due to Covid we had not seen each other for nearly 7 years. 
He had chosen a hotel close to a Hutong, an old part of the City. This is the gate into a hutong, or narrow street running between traditional courtyard residences (siheyuan). In the 15th century, Ming Dynasty, the hub was the Forbidden City. Surrounding this, according to their social status, were the town houses of officials and merchants and further away those or artisans and workers. Now the main hutongs are lined with small shops, but the side alleys are still family homes. In the recent past many Hutong areas have been demolished as value of city land has increased but there is growing recognition of their cultural status. They are a welcome relief on the eye in their varied age architecture and socially in their community feel, from the starker modern lines and enormous sizes of the new buildings and roads just outside.
With the red walls, ornate decoration of the gates, and the rounded pantiles on the overhanging roofs it really felt as if a door might open and a Mandarin from the past walk out.