Transformation of Living Space in Hutongs through the Process of Urban Development
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During the process of urbanization, traditional living space, in my case—hutongs in Beijing, are experiencing tremendous changes. The fate of Hutong is almost a thesaurus to devastate the traditional way of living, but to maintain the traditional out look. This article presents findings of ethnographic research in Hutong community, where housed the most authentic indigenous people in Beijing. I have conducted fieldwork by living and visiting Hutong areas in the East District and West district of Beijing for ten months with subsequent visits later on. By exploring the symbolic meaning of hutong elements, how Hutong, as a historically significant residential space mean to the dwellers, how the dweller make sense of their self identity by living within this community and how Hutong has been differentiated into diverse use, such as tourist site in the trend of urbanization, I unveiled the current three statues of Hutong community, which are simultaneously in existence at present. This transformation to the physical level of space at Hutong, somehow alternate the mechanic that residents used to group and interact with others, which are the social level of space. The Hutong residential community thus has been shifted from a “face-to-face group” into a “stranger group.”