Mourning Beijing's lost charms

As recently as 1949, Beijing still looked very much like it did during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, in less than a generation, the capital has changed beyond recognition. First, the old walls and gates were torn down. And over the past three decades, most of Beijing's hutong neighborhoods have vanished.

Unlike my diehard preservationist friends, I readily concede that most of the older courtyard houses do not begin to meet even minimal standards for acceptable housing. This point was driven home to me during a recent walking tour of the hutong west of Chaoyangmen.

Two older ladies graciously invited our group into the tiny courtyard rooms that served as their homes. Thanks to electric heaters installed by the local government to replace older polluting coal-burning stoves, their rooms were toasty warm; however, only one of them had running water and neither had a private bathroom.