Hutong (胡同) are a type of narrow street or alley commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing.

Hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Since the mid-20th century, a large number of Beijing hutongs were demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, however, many hutongs have been designated as protected, in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history. Hutongs were first established in the Yuan dynasty (1206–1341) and then expanded in the Ming (1368–1628) and Qing (1644–1908) dynasties.

In 2014, President Xi Jingping ordered that Beijing shift its “non-capital” functions to neighbouring regions. The plan would cap the city’s population at 23 million while expanding Tianjin and other nearby cities, linking them all together to create a megalopolis. An additional inferred goal is to rid the capital of many of the migrants who have poured into Beijing and other principal cities in recent decades. While they were important contributors to China’s economic boom, officials seem to have calculated that they are not as vital to the new phases of development. 

A key part of this redevelopment was the renovation of old Hutong districts which make up the centre of Beijing. A traditional form of vernacular architecture which had been in use by residents for generations.

In recent years due to increased economic migration into Beijing, many of the courtyard structures primary use had shifted from residential to economic. When China’s leaders began the transition to a market economy, they encouraged dislocated workers to take up their own entrepreneurial pursuits. Many whom set up small shops, bars or cafes, in what became known as kai qiang da dong, meaning “to open a hole in the wall.”

Cheap, they were significantly used and run by migrant workers who were encouraged by the government to come and find jobs in the city. In 2017 with little, if any, notice the government issued an edict stating that these structures no longer met building regulations and that the entrances and windows of hutong business were to be bricked up, despite businesses maintaining the correct licenses required in order to trade. 

This shift in position by the Chinese government specifically targeted business built by migrants, who had previously been encouraged by politicians. It is also part of a broader campaign meant to transform Beijing’s crowded city centre into an area of finance, media and technology. In essence pushing out uncontrolled development and “low end” entrepreneurship, along with millions of migrants from other parts of China. 

Businesses in Beijing operate within a permanent grey area, fraught with uncertainty where the rules can shift at any minute. With this campaign, it took a new level of legitimacy for shop owners to save their businesses — the right papers in the right zone, ideally with the right city listed on their personal residence permit. 

Under the headline “Old Beijing resident hutongs have returned" the Beijing Daily, a state run newspaper, declared the urban renovation to be a great success, returning the alleyways to their traditional use as residential spaces. One hutong resident is quoted saying “tourists can now finally see the real Beijing”. However, online sources offer a different view, with one comment stating “They tore down the real city wall and put up a fake one”.