A living museum's life support

Shijia Hutong Museum is a museum within a museum. It opened last month.[Photo/Xinhua]

The capital's first hutong museum preserves history. Xing Yi reports.

Beijing's maiden hutong museum not only houses historical relics but also is itself a relic.

Shijia Hutong Museum is an architectural artifact. The structure has dodged the wrecking ball of progress to break new ground in the preservation of, and education about, old Beijing's buildings and the people who've long dwelled in them.

It opened to the public last month.

While advancing historical conservation, the establishment also elaborates upon the transformations of these buildings over the generations and of the lifestyles of their inhabitants, demonstrating tradition isn't static.

"The museum is a footnote to the beautiful chapters of the story of Shijia Hutong - and Beijing's hutong in general - and traditional lifestyles," Chaoyangmen sub-district's secretary Chen Dapeng says.

"The best part is that it's embedded in occupied hutong and quadrangular courtyards downtown. So, when visitors leave, they feel like they're stepping into another museum."

A resident of the surrounding hutong, who would only give his surname, Wei, says: "Actually, every hutong has its stories and each should have a museum like this."

Shijia Hutong Museum is housed in the siheyuan (traditional courtyard) that was once home to celebrated Chinese writer Ling Shuhua.

It was renovated with authentic bricks and tiles gathered from hutong and other heritage sites around Beijing, says Chen, the museum's founder. It receives about 200 visitors a day.

A visitor from Haidian district, who would only give her surname, Guo, says: "The museum has preserved many items and scenes from daily life in olden times. Some items remind me of my younger years because I owned such things, too."

Some items were donated by Suo Ya, who grew up at 49 Shijia Hutong. Her grandparents bought the compound in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The 57-year-old grew up there in the 1960s and later moved into an apartment building elsewhere in town.

She loaned her student ID, report cards and schoolbooks from Shijia Hutong Primary School.

"Those objects are my treasures," Suo says. "They record history. While they're precious to me, I've lent them to the museum so more people can see them."