Qianshi Hutong: the World's Narrowest Hutong

Most people who travel to Beijing make sure to see the highlights: the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace. Few sojourners to the Northern Capital, however, experience the nooks and crannies of the city. On the afternoon of June 24th, I went on one such an adventure to one of the most tucked away tourist sites: Qianshi Hutong.

Located off Zhubao Street, which runs perpendicular to Dazhalan Commercial Street in the Qianmen neighborhood, Qianshi Hutong is easy to miss. That’s not surprising, as Qianshi Hutong has the distinction of being the world’s narrowest hutong. I went in search of Qianshi Hutong three times during my both my current and previous tenures in Beijing. The first time, I walked past it entirely and spent a good portion of the afternoon walking up and down Zhubao Avenue, finally returning home in defeat. I was able to locate it several weeks later with a travel companion, and the second pair of eyes was certainly helpful. Today, on my own once again, I walked all the way down Zhubao Street, recalling that the hutong would be on my left, but passing it by nonetheless. Given the increased tourist presence in the area and the market stalls selling silk scarves, cloisonné jewelry, and Old Beijing snacks, Qianshi Hutong has been practically swallowed up.

In Chinese, the name “Qianshi” means “Money Market.” It’s a fitting name, as Qing Dynasty moneychangers would go there to exchange currency. The hutong also boasted 26 mints that produced money for all the banks in Beijing. As it stands today, what is left of the hutong dates back to only the late Qing Dynasty, as a fire during the 1900 Boxer Revolution burnt much of the area to the ground. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the party-state reformed the monetary system entirely, thus rendering Qianshi Hutong obsolete.

Just how narrow is Qianshi Hutong? It’s 55 meters (180 feet) long, but just 70 centimeters (28 inches) at its widest. At one point, the alley narrows down to only 40 centimeters (16 inches). The alley isn’t wide enough for two people to pass by one another. Just this afternoon, I entered the hutong while another person was leaving. I turned to the side and backed up against the wall to allow her to pass—it would have been impossible for either of us to move otherwise. The reason for the extreme narrowness relates to the original purpose of the hutong. Were someone to have robbed the banks, the narrow passage would have made escape difficult, thus making it far more likely for the authorities to successfully apprehend the thief.

As I walked the length of the hutong this afternoon, there’s very little, with the exception of two plaques, that betrayed the alleyway’s original purpose. I glimpsed some faded white stone that might have been part of the façade of one of the mints or moneychanging houses, but it’s so worn that it’s impossible to tell. Rather, the hutong is primarily residential now, with wooden doors leading into small, intimate courtyards and laundry hanging in front of the windows.

The hutong first made its appearance in China during the Yuan Dynasty, a time during which the Mongols ruled. In fact, the origin of the word “hutong” is a Mongolian word meaning “water well.” These alleys used to be the lowest level of administrative division in Beijing. Parts of this Mongolian influence still survive today, although a number of hutongs have been demolished to make way for high-rise apartment buildings. Some of the alleys, including Qianshi Hutong, are protected, thus preserving just a bit of Old Beijing culture and history. 

Allison Quatrini, Ph.D. Political Science 2017

Sigur Center 2016 China Summer Research Fellow 

Research on the Mainland: Beijing and Shanghai

Hello from Shanghai! My name is Jackson Woods and I’m a Ph.D. student in political science, conducting summer field research for my dissertation with the help of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies.

My research deals with Chinese public opinion online, especially around foreign policy issues. In the midst of my fourth week here in China, I look back and find myself amazed at how much I’ve learned in such a short period of time. My first twenty-two days were spent in Beijing, and during that time I got to conduct nearly twenty-five interviews with experts ranging from professors at big-name universities to founders of well-known media publications to notable independent voices who’ve found themselves challenging the state. As important as all the other data is for my research – news articles and reports, millions of social media postings, and more – there’s nothing like hearing about these issues straight from those involved in China’s domestic foreign policy debates.

Getting to do this research involved a lot of different pieces that have to fall into place and not a little bit of luck. Mostly, it’s a story of using connections to make connections. For example, a friend who I met on a previous trip to Beijing with my committee chair introduced me to a professor in his department at Tsinghua University on my second day here. In the middle of our conversation, that professor sent me the WeChat contact information for a researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. (Note that WeChat is an absolutely essential smartphone app in China which everybody uses to the complete exclusion of texting, phone, etc.) After accepting my friend request on WeChat, that researcher in turn talked to her institute head, which meant that two weeks later I found myself at lunch with the research institute staff and a visiting scholar from Taiwan, talking with another expert who’s written multiple books about online opinion in China! Flexibility and follow-up are the key phrases for this kind of work.

Renmin University - site of a few interviews during my stay in Beijing

More broadly, it's great to be back in China. I've lived in Beijing for two years (2008-2009 and 2013-2014) and, while it will never really feel "like home," it's certainly familiar. Between hitting all of my culinary favorites and catching up with friends working in the city, I got to enjoy an unprecedentedly beautiful couple of weeks. Anyone who has read about China probably knows about the terrible air pollution, but with a few exceptions we had nearly three weeks of blue skies during my visit. The city felt entirely different, as residents walked down the street pointing their camera phones at the sky and fluffy blue clouds floated over familiar buildings that I'm more used to seeing shrouded in grayish-brown haze. I don't know if this was the result of policy or just a string of great luck, but I'm not complaining either way.

The view from my window in the Liudaokou neighborhood.

A more typical view on a previous visit to Beijing.

After keeping busy in Beijing, I’m now in Shanghai attending a conference at Shanghai Jiaotong University with scholars from both the US and China presenting their latest research, and next week I’ll be heading to Hong Kong. Already I've made a lot of useful connections with professors on both sides of the Pacific, which is nearly as valuable as the interviews. I also enjoy the contrast between Beijing and Shanghai quite a bit – where Beijing carries the weight of hundreds of years as China’s capital under a modern veneer, Shanghai feels like a true “world city.” I like them both in their own way, and I had a great time in Beijing, but it's cool to see the "leading edge" of the PRC. Of course, there’ve been a lot of cool experiences besides just work and nice weather, but those will have to wait for the next post(s). Until then!

Myself, my adviser Prof. Bruce Dickson, and Chunhua Chen, another GWU political science Ph.D. student who's currently doing field research in Beijing for the entire year. On the campus of Peking University.