Old Street Takes New Look with Beijing flavor

A major thoroughfare of Beijing for hundreds of years, Andingmen Inner Street is under renovation to restore the unique style of Beijing's traditional architecture.

The walls and roofs of the buildings are covered with gray tiles. Red doors, green wooden lintels and beams painted with colorful pictures, the typical elements of Beijing's ancient architecture, highlight the houses on the street.

Looking closely, you will find a gray metal box decorated with seal characters on the wall of each house. The boxes, with a distinctly antique flavor, are used as flagholders, and even the air conditioners on the exterior walls of the houses are housed in gray metal boxes.

The renovations - centered on 215 shops, 92 residential dwellings and 15 hutong, or alleyways - began in July, and the work is scheduled to be completed by the end of august. The project has been funded entirely by the local government, so the residents and shop owners don't need to pay for the repairs, according to Zhao Liuqiang whose shoe store recently had its facade changed into a red door and green beam, all free.

It's not the first time the street has been renovated. Every few years, the houses have been given a new look, according to a resident of Yongkang hutong.

Although it's unclear whether the renovations are related to the upcoming APEC Summit in November, the freeways on the city's Second Ring Road have been relaid with noise-proof asphalt, and 26 bridges are currently being repainted in preparation for the summit, according to officials from the Beijing Municipal Communications Commission, quoted in The Beijing News in August.

Andingmen Inner Street is an ancient thoroughfare, and it's said that in days of yore, troops paraded along the street to celebrate victories in battle. The street is also famous for its many tourist attractions, such as the Yonghegong Lama Temple, the Imperial College, and the Temple of Confucius.