Beijing Shichahai 

cctv.com 01-12-2005 14:54

In the modern world of speed and efficiency, people built all kinds of roads to go faster and faster. We have expressways, highways, and railways. This episode of Travelogue we take to you some small alleyways, where life takes a much slower pace, to see how tradition stands firm amidst modernization.

Early in the morning, we start the venture into the Shichahai area with Zhou, a newspaper delivery woman. The morning sunshine pours like honey upon everything, rendering a golden splendor to the humblest buildings here. Yet it's hard to say if it's the light adding beauty to the place, or the place that makes you notice how beautiful the light is. Shichahai area is among the few areas in Beijing where the Hutong alleyways and the courtyard houses are preserved. No matter how small, each family here has a little courtyard, all to its own, or to share with neighbors. On her way distributing newspapers, Ms Zhou delivers us to two of Beijing's most outstanding buildings, the Drum and the Bell Towers.

The Bell Tower and the Drum Tower are Beijing landmarks. For three dynasties, for nearly 800 years, they fulfilled a special duty: announcing the time to the city. The gigantic bell weighs 63 tons.

Not every one could sound the drum any time he likes, just like the bell tower, the drum tower used to be the clock of the city. Every day at 8 o'clock sharp in the evening, the drum will be sounded. There are 24 small drums on the tower, symbolizing the 24 solar terms. When the drums were sounded, people all over Beijing can hear it.

As recently as 50 years ago the whole city of Beijing was completely composed, along this axis, of such courtyard homes, linked by over 1,000 alleyways, or Hutong. But the time when the whole city could hear the drum is gone forever. Today the noise of the traffic is loud enough to drown the beating of the drum. Shichahai, which lies to the north of the Forbidden City, is like a basin surrounded by modern high-rises as the courtyard homes are usually only one story structures. The dense vegetation and the lakes make the small area look like a special retreat in the concrete jungle, a cool oasis in a desert.