Keeping in Shape in Beijing

Beijing Ping Pong

Keeping in Shape in the Hutong

When I was in Beijing in 2006, I stayed in a hutong, a traditional neighborhood in Beijing. The neighborhood included a park with exercise equipment, including ping pong tables.

From Wikipedia:

Hutongs (simplified Chinese: 胡同; traditional Chinese: 衚衕; pinyin: hútòng; Wade–Giles: hu²-t’ung⁴) are a type of narrow streets or alleys, commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, most prominently 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 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, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

Sunday Stills, the next challenge: Crowd Work