Abstract
This chapter title might look strange, but I find no better way to reveal the situation that the Hutong residents are currently facing. To show the struggle which Hutong dwellers’ currently face, I decided to use this title for the first chapter. And this is also my main purpose of the chapter. Opposite the block where I was living in the Hutong area of Beijing, I found lots of walls were labelled by official planners with the following character ‘Chai’, which means to be demolished, removed or dismantled. This is a typical Chinese symbol with the white Chinese character of Chai (拆) in the centre surrounded by a white circle to show imminent demolition, as is shown on the wall in the picture above. What this symbol means to the Hutong resident can be clearly read from my informants’ responses: ‘Where shall we go if they demolish these yards? We have been here for many generations. How can they let us go in such an easy way? Firstly, we cannot afford to buy another apartment with the modest compensation; secondly, it is even hard for us to believe that we are being expelled or will have been expelled from houses inherited from our forefathers’. An informant of mine, Ms. Lin, tried to make their situation more clear and understandable to me by giving me a metaphor in the following way: ‘It is like owning an old album for a very long time; you put all your happy and unhappy emotional memories into it, but suddenly one day, someone comes to you and tells you, “I would like to buy this album from you for a non-negotiable price, because I want to have it and will put it to another use”. How ridiculous!’ But what is the point for the state or the local state government to conduct this process of displacement? One quick and strong answer might be, ‘the local state is urbanised in China’s great urban transformation’ (You-tien 2009: 10). To be more specific, ‘as land rents become one of the most important sources of local revenue and capital accumulation, local state leaders identify themselves as city promoters and devote themselves to boosting the property value. Property prices are used to measure the success of urban development, and are openly referenced by local leaders as a primary political mandate. Mayors don suits and embark on road shows to promote real-estate projects in their cities, and compete with one another to hire advertising gurus for help in developing “urban strategic development plans” aimed at improving the image of their cities and boosting property values. City marketing and property value boosting are performed at both the ideological and political levels. High-profile urban project and property values are viewed as indicators of modernization, which in turn measure the political achievement of local state leaders’ (Hsing 2009: 9).
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Notes
- 1.
Mayors in all the cities in China are elected through the People’s Congress, which is supposed to represent the majority common benefit.
- 2.
Usually, in Chinese culture it is not very polite to ask the first name of the person you talk to, who might be older than you.
- 3.
It is not rude to ask people’s age in this situation, because knowing the age is the only way to find out how to address each other.
- 4.
This term means Younger Brother Yang. In China, it is more respectful to ask people’s family name instead of first name, when they are becoming acquainted especially on their first meeting. The family name indicates which family you come from, which is more general and less private compared with the first name. I got to know Mr. Yang’s first name 3 months after I settled here, because I didn’t want to offend him by asking his first name directly. The chance I got to know his family name was when I was asking his telephone number, he wrote me down the number followed by his full name. For someone who is older, it is a courteous way to address him or her elder sister or brother, as the way, which shows the respect and intimacy to the elder party. Only if someone looks obviously younger, or of a similar age, for example, classmates, then that will be fine to ask what is your name. In Chinese culture, name in most cases refers to full name.
- 5.
This is an exclamation term in oral Beijing dialect, used to express the feeling of unexpected good surprise.
- 6.
When someone is called uncle, brother or sister, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have kinship, again as this is a polite way to show your respect to the other party.
- 7.
This statement is not a rude response of disagreement to the partner you talk to. In most cases, if someone gives you a positive comment, it is better to reply back with a negative response, as a way to show you’re modest. Otherwise, you will be judged as an arrogant person.
- 8.
Yin and yang are the major concepts of Chinese traditional medicine and also of Fengshui. Yang stands for masculine, man, warm, hot, dry and parched; and on the opposite side, yin stands for feminine, woman, cold, cool, wet, sombre and shady. The characteristics of yin and yang could also be told from the characters in Chinese, which are 阴 (yin) and 阳 (yang). Apart from the similar left side, the right side shows the difference clearly, because the right-hand side of yin contains the character for moon (月), while Yang contains the sun character (日).
- 9.
- 10.
It is written as 吆喝 in Chinese. Similar meaning to ‘hawk’. The retailers walk through different Hutong and hawk to tell the potential customers living in Hutong what they are selling and how good the quality is. How and what the hawk is like a commercial advertisement. The content, the inflection and the volume together make this hawk a piece of art. And now the hawk of Beijing Hutong have been recognised as one of the intangible culture heritages of China.
- 11.
Abstract space refers to the second level of space as defined by Lefebvre (1991: 11). He also refers to it as the ‘mental level’.
- 12.
Social space refers to the Lefebvre’s ‘social level’ (1991: 11).
- 13.
Because I call him uncle, therefore his wife should be called aunt. This way of address is to show the respect and intimacy to Mr. Yang and his wife.
- 14.
Danwei can be referred to as a special work unit in Chinese culture. It originated from Soviet inspiration, and its function could be the Maoist state monitoring the loyalty of employees to the Communist Party, but in a much more tender way. Therefore, Danwei is not merely the unit that enables the employee to get their payment to lead their life but also will provide their employee with some benefits, for example, Fuli Fen Fang, which means beneficial house. Through Fuli Fenfang, you can have a house or apartment from your Danwei without paying for it. Also Xiaji Fuli, which means summer benefit, a compensation usually given for working in the hot season, normally including towels, soft drink, green tea, watermelon or sugar, etc., that could reduce the body temperature. In the winter, employees will get Kao Huo Fei, means warm-up fire fee, to allow them to buy some coal to keep the room warm. Meanwhile, Danwei also intervene in their employee’s everyday life, for instance, if the employee needs to get an introducing letter in order to get married at a registry office. The same letter is needed for a divorce as for a marriage. Some old TV shows indicate that when a couple quarrelled, one side might say to other side: ‘I will go and report this to your leader’.
- 15.
Ren (人) refers to people, human being.
- 16.
Because my mother referred to Mr. Yang as Brother Yang, his wife is supposed to be younger sister-in-law, which in Chinese is Di Mei.
- 17.
As I am a younger generation compared with Mr. Yang, I am not supposed to inquire into his domestic affair.
- 18.
In China, a person’s ‘face’ (known as mianzi 面子) is built up by other’s comments and behaviours towards the person. Kwang Kuo-Hwang (1987) described mianzi as an ‘indigenous concept in Chinese culture’ (Kuo-Kwang: 947). Mianzi can directly impact on prestige and consequently have an influence on a person’s social network, which will also lead to favour. If a person is always diu mianzi (loses face), others might not want to approach him or her.
- 19.
Jun shu is the name I call him. His name is Li Chengjun. Other neighbours all call him Xiaojun as a nickname, therefore my mother followed. Mr. Yang’s son, who is in the same generation as me, calls him Jun Shu, so I followed his way. Jun is his given name, shu means uncle. Here we do not use family name followed by the title ‘uncle’. Because Li Chengjun is much younger than Mr. Yang, everyone just calls him by his name. Therefore, Jun is like a label of him and that is why we called him Jun Shu.
- 20.
Sun Hong is Jun Shu wife.
- 21.
During and after the Cultural Revolution, the working class had been highly esteemed because their living relied on their own labour. That is why they were called elder brother.
- 22.
To ask someone if they have had their meal or not is a typical Chinese way of greeting and people get used to start their conversation by asking: ‘Have you eaten?’ But this question does not necessarily mean that the person who asked you wants to invite you for a meal. Even though, he or she said: ‘if you haven’t, would you like to have some with me?’ It is a Chinese modest way to say: ‘yes, I have already had’. Or ‘I have already prepared everything to cook the meal’. Or ‘I have already cooked a lot’. This is similar to British way of greeting, which is talking about weather when two people meet each other. But this does not necessarily mean the person asked you want to do something together with you in this weather.
- 23.
This means walk around in the morning before breakfast or in the evening after meal.
- 24.
This proverb means ‘A thousands glasses of wine are not too much if you drink with your bosom friend’.
- 25.
Jianguomen is located on the southeast of second traffic ring, just 15 minutes from my fieldwork site by bicycle.
- 26.
Cited from ‘Beijing City Planning 2004–2020’, clause 53: the preservation and development of Axes of the Beijing City.
- 27.
During the time I stayed in the Hutong, the inner city of Beijing was composed of four districts, which are West District, East District located on the upper half, while Chongwen District and Xuanwu District resident are in the lower half. On 1 July 2010, Chongwen and Xuanwu were integrated with East District and West District accordingly. In this way, the inner city of Beijing includes only East District and West District.
- 28.
Cited from ‘Beijing City Planning 2004–2020’, clause 57: The Function of Eight Districts.
- 29.
The most famous scissors brand throughout China. Their technology of making scissors has become inherent cultural heritage of China. First founded in 1675 during the Qing Dynasty.
- 30.
This teashop has been running since 1887 and registered as a company in 1997. Now Wuyutai is the leading teashop in China.
- 31.
This is a restaurant of Beijing hotpot. This Islamic restaurant was set up in 1905 and developed over more than a hundred years.
- 32.
This shop is famous for selling ready-cooked meat. It was set up 270 years ago.
- 33.
Cited from ‘Beijing City Planning 2004–2020’, clause 61: Inner city protecting as a whole.
- 34.
Cited from ‘Beijing City Planning 2004–2020’, clause 61: the Protection and Revival of Inner City.
References
Fei, X. (1992). From the soil: The foundations of Chinese Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hwang, K. (1987). Face and favor: The Chinese power game. American Journal of Sociology, 92(4), 944–974.
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hsing, Y. (2009). The great urban transformation: Politics and property in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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© 2015 Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Yang, Q. (2015). ‘Trembling in Another’s Fulfilment’: The Space of the Hutong and Its Significance to Mr. Yang. In: Space Modernization and Social Interaction. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44349-1_2
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