Beijing recently launched a research campaign that will study
the history and culture of its traditional hutongs, with the ultimate goal of establishing
an Internet database where citizens can access the information,
local media reported yesterday.
A launch ceremony was held Monday to celebrate the
much-anticipated project.
Beijing Municipal Archives will lead the campaign, with the
first collection of hutong documents expected to be online within
the year. The Internet database has been designed as a virtual
hutong compound where people can simply input an address to find
out information of any historic events or famous figures related to
a specific hutong.
Hutongs are ancient city alleys in Beijing, which once numbered
in the thousands. Now, with only a few hundred left, experts are
concerned that their legacy is disappearing with the buildings as
an increasing number fall under the wrecking ball.
Li Jianping, secretary-general of the Beijing History Research
Committee, told China Central Television (CCTV): "The configuration
of today's Beijing hutongs is a relic of the Yuan Dynasty, a period
dating back over 800 years. The culture from that time is reflected
in these hutongs, establishing a long history."
Experts say documenting hutongs is necessary to preserve the
ancient capital's culture.
"We will first start with existing hutongs, then move on to
those that have been torn down. We'll publish our research results
step by step as we go through various phases," Wang Lanshun, an
expert with the Beijing Municipal Archives, told Beijing Youth
Daily.
"If we lined up all the documents that we have in our archive,
it would definitely stretch at least 15 kilometers," Wang
added.
She said most of the documents are records from the old city
that relate to the hutongs' history, including 3,600 volumes of old
files from the period before the People's Republic of China was
founded in 1949. When the results are published, a batch of rare
photos and maps will also be available online.
In addition to its collection of documents, the committee is
also carrying out field surveys as part of the campaign to find
more information about hutongs.?
(China.org.cn by Zhang Rui, March 14, 2007)
