京城旧梦：记忆里的老北京胡同 | Sketching Beijing’s lost hutongs back to life

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There are two colors that symbolize Beijing. Red is the color of the brick palaces within the Forbidden City and grey is the color of various Siheyuans (courtyard houses) that lie deep inside the Hutongs of Beijing. Common Bei-jingers had a very different lifestyle compared to that of aristocrats who lived in palaces. However, long and winding Hutongs correctly portrays the life of the commoners that lived in “Old Beijing”.

北京的符号，一半是紫禁城的红砖宫殿；一半是胡同深处那些灰墙的四合院。宫殿深处的王侯将相离北京人太远；胡同深处的百姓人家才是老北京生活的写照。

“There are about 3600 Hutongs. Some of them have names, and others are nameless.” Hidden inside Hutongs are not only the daily lives of common Beijing residents, but also famous historical relics and the past glory of wealthy families. However, as time flies, many of these Hutongs are beginning to disappear.

“有名的胡同三千六，没名的胡同如牛毛”。胡同里，藏着这个城市里普通人的日常，也藏着那些历史过往的名人遗迹、昔日里大户人家的庄严气派。但随着时间的洗礼，许多胡同正渐渐消失。

Artist Kuang Han, uses pencil sketches to recreate the Hutongs of Old Beijing.

画家况晗用铅笔素描作品为大家再现老北京胡同。

Kuang Han was born in Yifeng, Jiangxi Province. After his graduating from the School of Fine Arts Nanjing Normal University in 1989, he was assigned to live in Beijing. He lived in a Hutong when he first arrived here. While living there, he nurtured a deep emotional connection with Hutongs.

况晗， 出生于江西宜丰，1989年毕业于南京师范大学美术学院。毕业后被分配至北京，初住在胡同里就对胡同产生了深厚的情感。

“Nothing in the world can compare with the culture of the Beijing Hutongs. Any Hutong you walk into, you’ll discover the stories that happened and the people that lived there, as far back as the Yuan and Qing Dynasties.”

“北京的胡同文化底蕴任何地方比不了。某一条胡同，可以从元朝说到清朝这条胡同发生了什么故事、什么人住过。”

Therefore, he cruises through streets and alleys of Beijing in search for poetic sentiment and beauty of daily life. He sketches them with watercolors and pencils. Kuang Han has been recording the changes of Beijing Hutongs for more than a decade now. He has compiled over 3000 pieces of over 500 Hutongs, and published two artistic collections: The Beijing Hutongs and The Disappeared Hutongs.

于是他跑遍北京的大街小巷，从日常生活的景物中发现诗意和美的韵致，用水彩和铅笔来描绘胡同。迄今为止，况晗十余年如一日得记录着老北京城胡同的变迁，共画了大大小小500多条胡同，收集了近3000幅胡同资料，出版有《留住胡同－况晗宽线条铅笔画作品选》《消失的胡同－铅笔画中的北京面貌》等书。

“There was a pomegranate tree, a hogwash bucket, a garbage bin, a mop and a broom by the door (of where I lived), so I painted them. That was my first Hutong painting. After I finished it, someone looked at the painting and said, hey, you’ve made the hogwash bucket pretty. To me, weaved baskets, goldfish bowls and blooming flowers are all inspiration. I ended up strolling up and down each Hutong, feeling their steady breaths as I did so.

“（我住的地方）门口正好有一棵石榴树，还有泔水桶、垃圾桶、拖把、扫把，我就画了一张。这是我真正画胡同的第一张画。画完之后，（别人）一看，说：哎呦，你把泔水桶怎么画得这么漂亮。（胡同里）编织的篮子、放的金鱼缸，开的花，这都是我很好的素材。我就一条一条胡同地走，感受到胡同在呼吸的感觉。”

He uses pencils to recreate Hutongs on paper. Many consider his unique thick pencil sketches, a splendid expression of Beijing Hutong charm. In the sketch-es, he blends lines and planes in dark, grey and light colors to create simple aspects of life, like the streets and Hutongs in Beijing City. The thick lines give the sketches a three-dimensional look, an effect commonly found in western oil paintings.

他是一个用铅笔为胡同在纸上构筑重安身之所的人。而其独特的宽线条铅笔画风格被业内外人士公认为极能表达老北京胡同风韵。在他的宽线条铅笔画下，勾勒出线面组合的物体，在自然光的照射下，暗色、灰色、亮色相互融合拼凑，汇合成古朴北京城里最日常的生活、街道、胡同。得益于宽线条笔触带来的质感，让灰色的铅笔画多了一份西洋油画般的立体效果。

“In 2002, I held two consecutive exhibitions in Beijing. Something unexpected happened during one of the exhibitions: an elderly woman came up to me in tears and said, “You preserved my house. I don’t even have a photo of our house, the house that I lived in.” In all honestly, my art is like a memento for people like her; I was able to help them find their way back home.

“2002年，我在北京市接连办了两个展览，在画展上，其实我是真没想到。有的老太太抱着我哭，人家说：“你都把我的房子留下来了，我们家里，我自己住的房子，连一张照片都没留下来。”我的画说到底就是一个念想，我们画下来了，让他们能找到自己的家。”

Prince Kung’s Mansion / 恭王府

Gulou West Street / 鼓楼西大街

Lanman Hutong / 烂漫胡同

Kuang Han carries a camera and his drawing board every day. The weight of the equipment has formed calluses on his middle finger. Yet, this did not stop him from drawing.

由于每天背相机、夹画板，况晗的中指已经磨出了黄豆大小的老茧，但他依然在画。

“I will paint and sketch for as long as I can. One day, when I can’t anymore, I will search for other forms of expression, but that won’t happen today.”

“还能坚持画一段时间，我就画一段时间。画不动了，我们用其他方式去表现，但我还得画。”

The days of Hutong have long gone, but fortunately Mr. Kuang Han has con-tinued to document it with his art. He still uses his art to revive the Hutong culture of old Beijing. 

虽然彼时胡同中的岁月已经渐渐远去，所幸还有一些如况晗先生这样执着的画家们，用自己的画笔和对老北京的眷恋，将胡同风情细细“道来”，让我们这还能从这些艺术作品里找到老北京最独特的记忆。

According to figures, by 2011, the Beijing Municipal government has published 8 batches of Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, encompassing a total 357 Hutongs, including famous ones such as Shijia Hutong, Zongmao Hutong, Weijia Hutong, and more.

据统计，截至2011年，北京市政府已经公布了八批文物保护单位名录，包括史家胡同、宗帽胡同、魏家胡同等，共计357个。

Cameraman: Wang Yusen 

Film editor: Zhang Xiaomei, Lu Gengrui

Story written by: Nie Yaqi

English editor: John Goodrich 

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