SEAN GALLAGHER - Photographer in China | Beijing | Photography, Video & Multimedia from China and the World | Editorial | Corporate | Advertising

CHINA: Bye Bye Beijing

On every street corner in Beijing, the city's traditional alley-way and courtyard based homes, or hutongs, are being destroyed. The destruction of hutongs has been taking place for a number of years, however since Beijing was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics, the rate at which they are now being cleared has increased exponentially.

For thousands of Beijing’s residents, this strive to modernise the city for the Olympics, is coming at an incredible cost. According to UNESCO, in the past three years, a third of the 62km2 that makes up the central part of the old city in Beijing has now been destroyed, displacing close to 580,000 people.

The full impact of what is happening now in Beijing may only be seen after 2008, when the construction dust has settled slightly over the city and after the Olympics has moved on. What is known is that a fundamental way of life that has existed for hundreds of years in Beijing is being destroyed. The hutongs, the heartbeat of the city are disappearing fast. It is sad and ironic that the very ‘Chinese flavour’ that is trying to be projected to the outside world for Beijing in 2008 and beyond, is actually being destroyed.

On nearly every corner in Beijing there is some form of construction or destruction, transforming the landscape into that like a war zone. Whilst this takes place, life goes on as normal and residents of Beijing’s hutongs watch the change happening around them.
   
Huge swathes of hutongs are being destroyed. UNESCO estimates some 62km2 has already been destroyed in the last three years.
   
A young child practices writing English in the Qianmen district.
     
  
A young boy and girl play in the rubble of a destroyed neighbourhood.
   
The Chinese character ‘chai’ (circled in picture), meaning ‘destruction’ or ‘destroy’, has become the symbol of Beijing. Once this character is painted onto a building it is earmarked to be demolished. Normally residents are given 8 weeks to leave, however invariably without being given any notice that their homes were to be destroyed in the first place.
   
Relatively modern apartment blocks spared from the destruction.
     
  
Piles of rubble wait to be cleared in a hutong near Tiananmen Square.
   
The wealth gap between rich and poor is vast in China. As lives and jobs are disrupted by displacement, people are forced to salvage anything, anywhere they can.
   
Cell phone numbers daub the walls of most hutongs in the process of being destroyed. They are left by people looking for work and people looking to hire workers.
     
  
Graffiti on the walls of a destroyed hutong.
   
Hutong destruction in the Qianmen district near Tiananmen Square.
   
A new hotel on the shopping street Wangfujing, sits next to a hutong that is being destroyed. Under the rule of Mao Tse-tung, during the Cultural Revolution, very little construction took place throughout the whole of China. Now, as China strives to catch up with the rest of the modern world, it is as if a lid has been lifted off a pot of constructive energy that has been simmering for nearly half a century.
     
  
Destruction of hutong near Tiananmen Square.
   
A family moving their possessions prior to moving out of their home.
   
The narrow, alleyway-like streets of the hutongs were never designed to accommodate cars. The widened ‘new’ hutongs will however, freeing visitors in 2008 to see the new ‘improved’ old city in air-conditioned comfort.
     
  
To the north of the city, about 1 hour by public transport, huge swathes of high-rise apartment blocks are being built to accommodate many of the displaced hutong residents.
   
The end of a long day for two of China's millions of workers changing the face of the countries towns and cities forever.
   
A girl plays in the remnants of a destroyed hutong.
     
  
An old woman walks through the remains of a destroyed hutong.