About the hutong and the favela

Hi all!

This week I read an interesting article on the Dutch One World website about the traditional Chinese courtyards and (narrow) streets in Beijing called hutong, built between and around the siheyuan communities. As China is becoming a world and economic superpower, many of these hutong have begun dissappearing, taking with them a part of traditional Chinese culture. Now I'm really interested in seeing all this. I saw both modern and traditional aspects of China when I was in Shanghai, but Beijing is of course even more loaded with Chinese culture and history. According to this article by Hans Wetzels, about 60 years ago, Beijing still counted about 1300 hutong, but there are only a few of them left now. Modernization comes with a high price of course...

What's really interesting, it seems the interest of foreign tourists may be what might help these remaining hutong to still be kept in life, at least for the time being. As a visitor to Beijing, you can come along on the tour to see these communities, riding a rented bike through the streets and alleyways. According to the report and the man who took action to try and rescue the remaining traditional hutong, it has been a struggle to start this initiative off, but it seems to have taken flight now. While I was reading the article, I had to think of the Brazilian favelas, because of the many challenges they also face as communities and the similar idea of their recently rising popularity with foreign tourists.

If you pick up a travel book about Brazil nowadays, it will likely have a section on the favelas in Rio, their social significance and advice on how to choose and join a (good) favela tour. Some popular guides already place the favela tour high on the list of the main highlights in Brazil, in between, say, visiting the Christ the Redeemer and celebrating the Carnaval. Some years ago, this probably would still have been fairly rare, but now the exception has become the rule. Or something along those lines! ;)

A couple of years ago, I was on such a favela tour, and I have written about it before, so I won't go into detail here, but it's certainly worth the effort! (And the money, for the price is surprisingly steep, like the hills on which the favelas are typically built... attempt at ironic humour here! Nah, just kidding - it's very affordable so not to worry, and part of the money is often intended for community development). Being in the favela and seeing the contrast between the houses built along the hills down below and above and the beautiful sea and modern tall houses in the distance is quite impressive indeed.

The Chinese hutong and the Brazilian favelas, built largely out of what I'd think was sheer necessity for a place to live, have in the past and still face difficult dilemmas and challenges, and it is very interesting to draw some comparisons between them in this context, at least for someone who has spent sometime getting to know each of the cultures ;) And it is interesting how so many people are now becoming interested in learning more about life in these communities. Admittedly, I have much to learn about the hutong (and now I definitely gotta go back to China sometime ey), but I have been interested in the favelas for a while now, and I really wonder about the deeper influences and impact that this rising international interest is having for both, and will have in the future.

Soon we might have a guidebook on Brazil that features a favela community on the front cover instead of one of the country's numerous beaches - I'll just have to get that one, won't I?

Thanks for reading!