Hutongs [Beijing city]

Hutongs are narrow streets that stretch between roads throughout Beijing city, and they are an important part of Beijing's cultural heritage; however, they have become an endangered species as they are being demolished and sacrificed for Beijing's thirst for more urban construction. These electricity meter boxes and power lines attached to the front door in an exisiting hutong shows how the old structure has to adapt to modern technologies in order to survive in the urban fabric. Against other renovated or commercialized buildings on the same alley, these old structures seem more precious and and important in understanding the quality of life in the hutong and the community it builds around the Siheyuan's. Remaining residents want to preserve the lifestyle and protect their home in the hutong, therefore adding these supplements-- neccessities of modern life, seems to prove that they could survive on their own and remain as cultural relics that struggle to survive in the city. Ironically, poverty has become an architectural style and a tourist attraction and in order to make these hutongs presentable, the city attempts to refurbish these alleys with new construction and clean walls to makes them look livable and show the upgraded quality of living and safety and sanitary issues.