A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where there are several thousand hutongs. They surrounding the Forbidden City when many were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming(1368-1628) and Qing(1644-1908) dynasties. In the prime of these dynasties the emperors, in order to establish supreme power for themselves, planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the hierarchy systems of the Zhou Dynasty. The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace, the Forbidden City. One type of hutong usually referred to as the regular hutong was near the palace to the east and west and arranged in orderly fashion along the streets. Most of the residents of these hutongs were imperial relatives and aristocrats. Another kind, the simple and crude hutong, was mostly located far to the north and south of the palace where the residents were merchants and other ordinary people.

The main buildings in the hutong were almost all quadrangles--a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard . The quadrangles varied in size and design according to the social status of the residents. The big quadrangles of high- ranking officials and wealthy merchants were specially built with roof beams and pillars all beautifully carved and painted, each with a front yard and back yard. However, the ordinary people's quadrangles were simply built with small gates and low houses. Hutongs were actually passageways formed by many closely arranged quadrangles of different sizes. The specially built quadrangles all face the south for better lighting; thus many hutongs run from east to west. Between the larger hutongs, many small ones went north and south as convenient passageways.