Hutong is the unique features of Beijing. It first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and lasted 700 years. No one knows exactly how many Hutongs there are in Beijing. But one thing is certain, if we connected all these Hutongs, their total length would be longer than the famous Great Wall, which is more than 6,000 kilometer long.

The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles--a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard ---siheyuan. The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents.

The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and back yard. However, the ordinary peoples quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. hutongs, in fact, are passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes. The specially built quadrangles all face the south for better lighting; as a result, a lot of hutongs run from east to west. Between the big hutongs many small ones went north and south for convenient passage.