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23-567: Dongsi Subdistrict is an area in the northeastern side of the old town of Beijing. Hutongs are sorted numerically from south to north, and are called "tiao" in local parlance. Shitiao therefore refers to the tenth hutong in the Dongsi area, counted from south to north. The station is particularly busy during Beijing Guo'an matches, due to its proximity to the Workers' Stadium . The Line 2 station has an underground island platform , whilst

46-428: A hutong was also once used as the lowest level of administrative geographical divisions within a city in ancient China, as in the paifang (牌坊) system: the largest division within a city in ancient China was a fang (坊), equivalent to current day ward . Each fang (坊) was enclosed by walls or fences, and the gates of these enclosures were shut and guarded every night, somewhat like a modern gated community. Each fang (坊)

69-494: 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, many 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 (1279–1368) and then expanded in

92-758: A name, or longer hutong s divided into sections, are often identified by direction. for example, there are three Hongmen Hutong ("Red Gate Hutong"), being the West Hongmen Hutong, the East Hongmen Hutong, and the South Hongmen Hutong (all three hutong s have been obliterated as of 2011 and no longer exist). While most Beijing hutongs are straight, Jiudaowan Hutong turns nineteen times. Located near Beixinqiao Station , its name 九道弯 literally means "Nine Turns". At its narrowest section, Qianshi Hutong near Qianmen (Front Gate)

115-585: A name. Some have had only one name since their creation, while others have had several throughout their history. Many hutong s were named after their location, or a local landmark or business, such as: Some hutong s were named after people, such as Mengduan Hutong (named after Meng Duan, a mayor of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty whose residence was in this hutong ). Others were given an auspicious name, with words with generic positive attributes, such as Xiqing Hutong ( Xiqing means happy) Hutong s sharing

138-593: Is located just south of the intersection. The neighborhood northeast of Dongsi, extending north to Dongsi Shitiao and east to the Second Ring Road , is administered as the Dongsi Subdistrict of Dongcheng District . The subdistrict was established in 1958 and As of 2011 , consists of eight residential communities. As of 2020, the Dongsi Subdistrict has a population of 33,670 and an area of 1.42 square kilometres (0.55 sq mi). In 2021,

161-607: The Beijing Subway is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dongsi Subdistrict, Beijing Dongsi ( simplified Chinese : 东四 ; traditional Chinese : 東四 ; pinyin : Dōngsì ,lit. "Eastern Four" or "Eastern Quadrangle") is the name of an intersection and surrounding neighborhood in Dongcheng District , Beijing . Dongsi, at the intersection of what is now Dongsi Avenues North, South and West and Chaoyangmen Inner Street, dates to

184-697: The Beijing city wall and was widened in the 1990s to become one of the main east–west thoroughfares in the old city. The Dongsi Shitiao Station on Subway Line 2 marks the intersection of the alleyway and the wall. Hutongs Hutong ( simplified Chinese : 胡同 ; traditional Chinese : 衚衕 or 胡同 ; pinyin : hútòng ) are a type of narrow street or alley commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing . In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan , traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form

207-570: The Dongsi Station on Lines 5 and 6 of the Beijing Subway is located underneath the intersection. Beijing Bus 106, 110, 116, 684, and 夜10 stop south of the intersection. Bus 58, 101, 109, 112, 420, and 夜13 stop east of the intersection. Dongsi is known for the Longfusi Snack Street where traditional restaurants such as Baikuilaohao serve Beijing snack cuisine. The Dongsi Mosque , founded in 1356 and rebuilt in 1447,

230-620: The Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. During China's dynastic period , emperors planned the city of Beijing and arranged the residential areas according to the social classes of the Zhou dynasty (1027–256 BC). The term "hutong" appeared first during the Yuan Dynasty , and is a term of Mongolian origin, meaning "water well". In the Ming Dynasty (early 15th century),

253-620: The Yuan dynasty . The intersection is named after four paifangs or Chinese sign gates that marked the location and is known in Chinese as the Eastern Four Sign Gates or "Eastern Four" for short. Directly due west in Xicheng District , another intersection with four sign gates is called Xisi or the "Western Four". The sign gates at Dongsi and Xisi were removed in 1958 but the location names remain. Today,

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276-655: The center was the Forbidden City , surrounded in concentric circles by the Inner City and Outer City. Citizens of higher social status were permitted to live closer to the center of the circles. Aristocrats lived to the east and west of the imperial palace. The large siheyuan of these high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants often featured beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars and carefully landscaped gardens. The hutongs they formed were orderly, lined by spacious homes and walled gardens. Farther from

299-609: The conditions of the hutongs worsened. Siheyuans previously owned and occupied by single families were subdivided and shared by many households, with additions tacked on as needed, built with whatever materials were available. The 978 hutongs listed in Qing Dynasty records swelled to 1,330 by 1949. Today in 2008, in some hutongs, such as those in Da Shi Lan, the conditions remain poor. As China's urbanization greatly increased, many of Beijing's hutong s were demolished during

322-637: The court life and elite culture represented by the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, the hutongs reflect the culture of grassroots Beijingers. The hutongs are residential neighborhoods which still form the heart of Old Beijing. From 2014 to 2019, an exploration game was played called 胡同谜踪 or Hutong Races . Teams explore hutongs within one city block in detail and complete activities based on art, food, calligraphy, history and technology and often with local businesses. Each hutong has

345-496: The future Line 3 will also have an underground island platform. There is an unused platform below the existing Line 2 platform, built during the construction of the station, which was to have been used for the planned Line 3. The connection between the two levels is currently fenced off, but will open in 2024 when Line 3 becomes operational, four decades after the station for Line 2 opened. The unused platform, originally meant for Line 3, will not be used for its original purpose, due to

368-462: The hutongs were no longer used as the lowest level of administrative geographical division and were replaced with other divisional approaches. At the turn of the 20th century, the Qing court was disintegrating as China's dynastic era came to an end. The traditional arrangement of hutongs was also affected. Many new hutongs, built haphazardly and with no apparent plan, began to appear on the outskirts of

391-641: The newer rolling stock being too large for the original platform. Instead, it will become the transfer hall between the two lines and will be renovated. For Line 3, two new platforms will be built seven or eight metres below the original, one for each direction. To allow construction of Line 3 platforms, the station of Line 2 has suspended for services since 25 November 2023, and until 27 February 2024. There are four exits, lettered A, B, C, and D. Exits B and C are accessible. 39°56′02″N 116°26′03″E  /  39.933801°N 116.434133°E  / 39.933801; 116.434133 This article related to

414-461: The old city, while the old ones lost their former neat appearance. The social stratification of the residents also began to evaporate, reflecting the collapse of the feudal system. Many such hutong -like areas have been demolished. During the period of the Republic of China from 1911 to 1948, society was unstable, fraught with civil wars and repeated foreign invasions. Beijing deteriorated, and

437-453: The palace, and to its north and south, were the commoners, merchants, artisans, and laborers. Their siheyuan were far smaller in scale and simpler in design and decoration, and the hutongs were narrower. Nearly all siheyuan had their main buildings and gates facing south for better lighting; thus a majority of hutongs run from east to west. Between the main hutongs, many tiny lanes ran north and south for convenient passage. Historically,

460-534: The past, hutongs are home to celebrities, business owners and officials. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests , Zhao Ziyang spent his fifteen years of house arrest inside a hutong. Zhao's hutong had previously been occupied by one of Empress Dowager Cixi 's hairdressers. Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing. Thanks to Beijing's long history and status as capital for six dynasties, almost every hutong has its anecdotes, and some are even associated with historic events. In contrast to

483-472: The period 1989-2019, with remaining lanes often converted into tourist attractions as objects of historic preservation. Many hutongs, some several hundred years old, in the vicinity of the Bell Tower and Drum Tower and Shichahai Lake are preserved amongst recreated contemporary two- and three-story versions. This area abounds with tourists, many of which tour the quarter in pedicabs . Today, as in

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506-439: The subdistrict was divided into the 6 following communities : Running east–west through the Dongsi Subdistrict are a series of parallel alleyways called tiao . These hutongs are numbered in ascending order from south to north beginning with Dongsi Toutiao, the first alleyway of Dongsi, up to Dongsi Shisitiao or the fourteenth alleyway of Dongsi. The tenth alleyway, Dongsi Shitiao, was extended eastward through an opening in

529-442: Was further divided into several plate or pai (牌), which is equivalent to a current day (unincorporated) community (or neighborhood). Each pai (牌), in turn, contained an area including several hutongs, and during the Ming Dynasty , Beijing was divided into a total of 36 fangs (坊). However, as the ancient Chinese urban administration division system gave way to population and household divisions instead of geographical divisions,

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