Weekend FT – How Beijing’s hutongs are under threat from developers.

A long and interesting piece from Simon Rabinovitch in the Weekend FT on the continuing destruction of Beijing’s hutongs. Most important to note that the planned destruction of the Drum and Bell Tower area is back on and they seem determined not to let this area stay intact and to clear and out and flatten the hutongs around the area. This would be a crime against world culture – no other way to say it – and a new and massive dent in the number of surviving hutongs in Beijing which is now perilously few. Were hutongs an animal species we’d be very, very worried by now. However, it appears Beijing’s masterplanners are determined on extinction.