Top 11 Fun Things to Do in Beijing Hutong
Strolling through the hutongs and taking a rickshaw ride is the easiest way to explore them. There are also quite a few interesting things to do in the hutongs. These activities can make your hutong journey more meaningful because they require you to try things out with your own hands. For example, you can go to a resident's home in the hutong to make a handicraft or wrap dumplings yourself.
1. Take a Rickshaw Ride
In the past, rickshaws in China were two-wheeled carts pulled by rickshaw pullers. Now, they have been replaced by pedal tricycles, which save the pullers a lot of effort. Moreover, one tricycle can carry two passengers. Back when cars were not yet widespread, rickshaws were like the taxis of that era.
The rickshaw pullers were strong men dressed in unified traditional clothing. When you sit on a rickshaw and ride through the hutongs, you'll feel as if you've traveled back to the Republic of China era and become a young lady or gentleman of that time.
Rickshaws in the hutongs follow fixed routes with different starting and ending points. They don't go very fast and ride quite smoothly. If you're lucky enough to meet a rickshaw puller who can speak English, you can listen to him tell stories about the hutongs.
And if you can understand Chinese, that's even better. Listening to pure Beijing dialect explanations while strolling through the hutongs is a really pleasant experience.
Related Reading: How to Visit Beijing Hutongs
2. Ride a Bicycle
Shared bikes can be seen everywhere on the streets of Beijing. Just scan a bike, ride it through the hutongs, and you can plan your route while slowly enjoying the bricks and tiles of the hutongs. However, since the hutongs are quite narrow, you have to ride carefully and slowly.
If you're in good physical condition, you can ride through the hutongs all day long without any problem.
You can also ride your bike from one hutong to another, or from a subway station exit to the hutong you want to visit. When you finally ride to the scenic spot you've been longing for, you'll feel so accomplished!
3. Write Chinese Calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy involves using a brush to write characters with ink on paper. If you want to seek good luck, you can write the character Fu on a piece of red paper. In English, this character can be translated as Happiness.
During the Chinese Spring Festival, people often stick this "Fu" character on their doors or windows, wishing for a happy life in the new year.
For many foreign tourists, writing Chinese characters is a big challenge. It's advisable to start with copying first. Get familiar with the strokes of a character before trying to write it on your own.
4. Take a Cooking Class
Learning to make dumplings or cook Chinese dishes means you'll not only get the chance to visit a traditional courtyard house (siheyuan), learning all about its architectural style and cultural heritage, but also sit together with others and listen to local people talk about their daily lives in the hutongs. You can feel that simple and warm atmosphere.
After returning home, you can even cook an authentic Chinese dish for your family. Just imagine! When your family members taste the food you've made by yourself, you'll feel a great sense of achievement because it's the result of your hard work. Besides, the dish you make yourself is full of your love and care, so it must taste much better than the food bought outside!
5. Peking Opera Facial Makeup
The facial makeup molds already have pre-pressed patterns on them. Simply apply the paint to the corresponding areas as shown in the picture. Doesn't it seem pretty easy? However, this painting still requires carefulness. You have to concentrate when applying the paint. If you apply makeup in the wrong places, it won't look good.
6. Try Paper-cutting
Paper-cutting is a folk art form where people use scissors to cut various patterns into red paper to decorate their daily lives. During the Spring Festival, people often stick red paper-cuttings of the Chinese character Fu on windows. These are also known as window decorations, and they embody the Chinese people's hopes for a better life.
Paper-cutting features a rich variety of patterns, including characters, animals, plants, and figures. The more intricate the pattern, the greater the test of the paper-cutter's skill.
7. Shopping
Nanluoguxiang in the Gulou, or Drum and Bell Tower districts, is famous for its shopping. The shops range from upscale boutiques to kitschy souvenir and clothing stores. This large Hutong is called Centipede Street because it is one long, slightly wider alleyway with 8 others intersecting it at even intervals.
If you want a T-shirt that says I ♥ BJ(I love Beijing) or has an airbrushed picture of Mao Zedong with the caption LMAO, then this is the place for you.
Of course, there are shops spread throughout the Hutongs. You will be able to find clothing, souvenirs, and Cultural Revolution/communist kitsch everywhere. Just about every hutong has street food available as well.
8. Eating
China is renowned for its incredible cuisine, and there's no better place to experience it than in the local neighborhoods of the capital city. This subject could easily fill a book. Beijing offers day and night tours that focus exclusively on the unique foods found in the hutongs.
The food and restaurants wildly. Whatever Chinese food you are looking for, you can find it. There are fine dining establishments built up in some of the former courtyard homes, where visitors to China can try Sichuan and Yunnan-style food.
There are hot pot restaurants where diners cook their food in a boiling cauldron, and they can have everything from leafy greens to duck tongue to pig brain. There are small mom-and-pop restaurants where you can have simple fried noodles or homemade dumplings.
Street food vendors are prolific throughout the Hutongs as well. Tanghulu, fried potatoes, the occasional fried insect, pickled vegetables, and stinky tofu are all just the tip of the iceberg of the wealth of street food that can be found.
Related Reading: Best Street Food in Beijing
9. Play Mahjong
There's a Chinese saying: If you want to learn Chinese culture, play Mahjong. Chinese Mahjong is a fascinating traditional tile game! Four people play it together, using a bunch of rectangular tiles. These tiles have numbers like wan, tiao, and tong, as well as patterns of winds and Chinese characters.
Players take turns to draw tiles and discard tiles. They need to use their brains to arrange their tiles into sequences of three identical tiles. In the end, the one who first forms a specific tile pattern, such as qing yi se, becomes the winner.
10. Play Yo-yo
Chinese diabolo- also known as the devil on 2 sticks- is over a thousand years old. The user suspends a plastic or wooden hourglass-shaped roller between two sticks that are connected by a length of cord. The roller spins, bounces, swings, and comes to rest on the cord between the wooden sticks.
Advanced users can do fantastic tricks, tossing the roller into the air and catching it. Diabolo isn't just for fun; it's also a nice bit of exercise, good training for hand-eye coordination, and reflex speed.
11. Relax
Last but not least, don't forget to take it easy. There are myriad teahouses and cafes all across the Hutongs. After a busy day of exploring, it's great to sit down, relax, and watch the world go by. Teahouses are great places to experience Chinese tea and people-watch.
Beijing Hutong Tour
After seeing all these interesting activities you can experience in the hutongs above, don't you want to give them a try? Actions speak louder than words! But remember, hutongs have owners. Many owners don't allow tourists to visit, let alone carry out activities inside.
However, there's no need to worry. You can book a Beijing hutong tour with us. Our experienced local guides know exactly which hutong and which household can let you fully enjoy these fun activities.
A Half-Day Hutong Pedicab Tour