The Chinese word "hutong" means "tiny alley." By extension, "hutong" includes the ancient courtyard houses along these alleys. The very old sections of Chinese cities like Beijing are filled with these tiny alleys bordered by clusters of houses often inhabited by three or more generations of the same family. The grandparents always get the best dwelling in the housing cluster. This alley system is so complex that taxi drivers often cannot find specific addresses. Only a very local postman can deliver the mail in these old parts of town. The overall Beijing map is updated every four months.
Our guide commented that you can tell something about the difference between the American and Chinese character by looking at their homes. He says, "An American's house is out in the open for everyone to see. You know about how many rooms the house has, what car the owner drives, if he has a swimming pool. Americans like to 'show off.' By contrast, a Chinese house is completely walled and covered with vegetation. It takes much longer to know these inhabitants."
We took pedicabs through a hutong today and ate lunch in a very modest home there. The owner rents the house from the government for a very modest fee. The homeowner cooked lunch outside and then brought it inside for us to eat. Chinese people almost always eat at round tables with a glass lazy Susan in the middle. The meal is always made up of multiple dishes (8-20 or so) that are shared among all guests. The beauty of this arrangement is that even a Tucson girl can always find something good to eat. To date, I have not eaten anything that is "alive" and nothing in the insect family (at least not to my knowledge).
After lunch, we had a cricket master (not cricket the game, cricket the insect) demonstrate cricket fighting (similar to cock fighting although on a miniature scale). People raise, feed and care for crickets as pets in tiny boxes. The Chinese are enthusiastic gamblers, and they bet on cricket fights.
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