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January 14 - December 30, 2022
Outsiders often called hutong neighborhoods slums, but the neighborhood did not cause pathologies or problematic behavior. Our neighborhood was not a pit of despair; you heard laughter and lively talk and occasionally, tears and arguments, just like anywhere else. People treated each other with something I missed the minute I set foot outside the hu-tong: civility. Residents recognized each other, so there was no cursing or name-calling directed at anonymous faces, without repercussions. Cars could not blare the horn, cut you off, and motor away. In the lanes, belligerence was not a virtue,
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“In the 1960s and �70s, we destroyed our culture angrily,� he said. “In the 1980s to now, we’re destroying our culture happily.�
A measure of any great city is its potential for accidental discoveries, those places without entrance fees and tour guides that make you want to stay longer in hopes of finding the next one.
