STROLLING in HUTONG with FOREIGN FRIENDS
I grew up in the Hutong of Beijing. It is the Xitangzi Hutong which is located near Wangfujing Street. I remember that our house was behind a red-painted gate with several small courtyards in it. At the backyard, was a fully-grown mulberry tree, I guess that the courtyard used to be the apartment of a certain royal official. In the 70’s high rise buildings appeared in Beijing. My family moved out of the courtyard. Hutong doesn’t mean anything special to me, but has left me endless recall of my childhood.
In the early 90’s I went to Germany to study, and lived in a typical 2-story European style building. My building was surrounded by a garden. Countless flowers bloomed from early spring to late fall. Everything looked to be so peaceful and pleasing. Living in the environment of such a kind, made me much farther away from the Hutong in Beijing. To my surprise, one day my landlord showed me an album with Chinese “胡同” on the cover. His strong interest in the Hutong of Beijing was beyond my expectation. I was told that the Hutong of Beijing was a household word in Germany. German Travel Agency organized trip to Beijing and one of its schedule was “one-day visit to Hutong”. He hope that he would have a chance to visit Hutong.
My landlord’s dream came true, however, his tour guide was not a travel agency but me. I showed the couple around the Hutong near the Confucius Temple, and then in Dongdan and Zhushikou areas. Strolling in Hutong, my landlord exclaimed that to Europeans, the Great Wall symbolize China, and Hutong is the unique view of Beiing. Entered the zigzag narrow and long Hutong would remind visitors of the long history of Beijing since Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties, everything of Hutong could tell you a story of Beijing folk custom. He took many pictures of Hutong including stone animals of various forms on the roof, and the stone lions in front of the gate of Siheyuan. What more interesting is that since my landlord knows a few Chinese acters, he insisted that the left side of “胡” is “古” which means the long history of Hutong; “月” on the right side looked like the shape of Hutong, and the two straight lines appeared to be two people walking in it. The acter “同” resembled Siheyuan and screen wall. In front of a round gate they stood for quite a while, and then asked me if it was a “moon gate”. A sense of shame came to my mind since I was first told the word “moon gate” by a German. Looking at the round design, you couldn’t agree more with the foreigner. After his careful survey of it, he said that he would reproduce a moon gate if possible when he returned. That day, he used three rolls of film, he said the photos would become very invaluable treasures if someday Hutong vanished in Beijing. His words shocked me. Could Hutong as one of Beijing treasure really die out? Looking at the tower cranes and old houses with the sign “tear down” around you, you couldn’t agree more with him. Since then, I would always love to go through the zigzag lanes whenever I am on business in town by bike. It is really hard to explain.
附上中文原文：
我陪老外逛胡同
（作者：雨寒）
我从小就是在北京的胡同里长大的，那是位于王府井附近的西堂子胡同。记得我家当时住在一个好几层院落的朱漆大门里，后院里有一棵高大茂盛的桑树，现在想想过去一定是某位达官贵人的宅子。后来70年代北京前三门盖起了高楼。胡同对我来说谈不上有什么特殊的感情，但也给我留下了对童年生活无尽的回忆。
90年代初我去德国留学，住在一栋典型的二层欧式小楼里。小楼被花园团团围着，数不清的鲜花从早春开到晚秋，一切看上去是那么恬静宜人，生活在这样的环境里胡同似乎离我更加遥远了。谁知有一天房东忽然拿出一本带着汉语拼音“HUTONG”的图片册让我看。我惊讶地发现老人对北京的胡同竟有这样大的兴趣。房东告诉我，北京的胡同在德国非常有名，德国的旅行社组团到北京旅游其中有一项专题就叫“胡同一日游”，他希望有一天能到北京逛逛胡同。
房东的愿望终于实现了，不过充当导游的不是旅行社，而是我。我带他夫妇二人先在孔庙附近转了几条胡同，又在东单和珠市口一带的胡同穿进穿出。房东一边逛着胡同一边感叹地说，在欧洲人看来长城是中国的象征，胡同是北京的绝景。走入弯曲而狭长的胡同会使人联想起北京元、明、清数百年的历史，胡同里的一砖一瓦都披着北京民俗的沉积。房脊上造型百态的石兽，四合院门前作为守护神的石狮子，都被他一一收入了镜头。更为有趣的是房东学过几个汉字，他坚持认为“胡”字的左边是“古”，说明胡同的年代久远；右边的“月”字则像胡同的形状，里面的两横像是胡同里面走着的两人。而“同”他说字有些像四合院和影壁。在一座圆形的宅门前他俩站了许久，问我这个是不是“月亮门”？我感到一阵惭愧，因为“月亮门”的名字我还是头一次听到，可是你再看看那圆圆的造型能说不是吗？房东仔细地勘测了月亮门的结构说回家后如有可能也要仿建一个。那天房东的相机换了三次胶卷，他说如果有一天胡同在北京消失了，这些照片也将成为无价之宝。房东这句话叫人听了心里为之一振，作为北京一宝的胡同难道真有一天会消失吗？看看四周高耸的塔吊和眼前写着“拆”标记的旧房，你又能说他的话毫无根据吗？不知为什么，从这以后，每当我骑车进城办事的时候，总爱穿行在那些弯弯曲曲的小胡同中。
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