Hutong

These lanes are the Hutongs. They used to be ordinary houses in the Yuan Dynasty. The Hutongs were 9-meter wide roads and as time passed the widths of Hutongs changed from the traditional 9-meter wide roads to 6-meters or less. As the city modernized, the number of traditional houses such as Hutongs decreased, so the government decided to preserve the remaining ones. Today, the Hutongs is a famous tourist attraction in Beijing and the houses have been turned into tourist shops selling traditional Chinese art. People come from all over the world to see the traditional Beijing courtyards and lanes.

这就是胡同. 在元朝的时候, 胡同是普通的住宅. 胡同原来都是九米宽, 随着时间的推移, 传统的胡同有九米宽变窄为六米或更窄. 随着城市的现代化, 像胡同这样的传统住宅变的越来越少. 政府决定保护这些剩下不多的胡同. 现在胡同是一个北京著名的景点. 胡同中的住宅都改成小商店. 这些商店都卖些中国艺术品. 世界各地的旅游者都到北京来参观这些传统民宅.