Hou Hai

Search in book...
Toggle Font Controls
Create new playlist

Name your new playlist

Playlist description (optional)
Sign In

Email address

Password

Forgot Password?

or

Continue with Facebook

Continue with Google
Sign Up

Full Name

Email address

Confirm Email Address

Password

or

Continue with Facebook

Continue with Google

Hou Hai

The area around the joined lakes of Qian Hai and Hou Hai has traditionally been home to nobles and wealthy merchants. Several grand homes survive, hidden in the labyrinthine old lanes known as hutongs. This is a rare quarter of Beijing where the 21st century is kept at bay, and these back alleys represent one of the most satisfying parts of the city to explore on foot – or by rickshaw.

Subway: Gulou Dajie, Jishuitan

Mansion of Prince Gong

6616 8149
Open: 8:30am–4:30pm daily.
Admission: ¥30 or ¥60 with tour guide, tea, and snack tasting, and traditional opera performance (call ahead for times)

Former Residence of Guo Moruo

6612 5984
Open 9am–4.30pm Tue–Sun. Closed Dec 25 until 5th day of Chinese New Year.
Admission: ¥20

Song Qingling’s Residence

6404 4205
Open 9am–5:30pm (Nov– Mar to 4:30pm) Tue–Sun.
Admission: ¥20

Siheyuan

Traditional Beijing homes are arranged around a central courtyard. The main dwelling is on the north, with lesser halls on the other three sides. Originally homes of the well-to-do, over time many siheyuan were occupied by poorer families, who squeezed several households into the space formerly occupied by one. Modernization has destroyed many of these dwellings, but there is a movement to preserve those that have survived. A few have been converted into hotels (see Courtyard Hotels).

Al fresco dining at Qian Hai

The Hou Hai area has several excellent restaurants and bars, see Bars and Teahouses and Restaurants.

Visit Hou Hai by day to explore the hutongs and historic residences, but do come back by night to dine and see the lake glimmering with the flotilla of tea-candles that are floated out on the water each evening.

NOTE

For more on Hou Hai and around see North of the Forbidden City

Top 10 Features

Lotus Lane
This is the tourist-friendly name attached to Hou Hai’s main lakeside parade of restaurants, bars, and cafés. Many of these establishments feature attractive waterfront terraces.
Boating and skating
In summer the lakes are filled with small pedal boats, rented by the hour. By mid-December, they are frozen over and a large area is corraled off for public ice-skating.
Silver Ingot Bridge
The narrow channel that connects Hou Hai’s two lakes is spanned by the pretty, arched Silver Ingot Bridge, which dates from the time of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368).
Hutongs
The lakes lie at the heart of a sprawling old Beijing district, characterized by the traditional alleyways known as hutongs. These alleyways are lined for the most part by the blank outer walls of siheyuan, which are inward-looking houses that are arranged around a central courtyard. Each siheyuan houses several families.
Mansion of Prince Gong
Built for a Manchu official but seized by the imperial household, the former residence of Prince Gong is the best preserved historic mansion in Beijing. The garden is a pattern of corridors and pavilions, dotted with pools and gates.
Former Residence of Guo Moruo
Beijing has countless “former residences of,” mostly connected with Party favorites. Moruo was an author and influential figure in the rise of communism in China. His house offers the opportunity to see inside a hutong home.
Rickshaw tours
One way of seeing the hutongs is from a rickshaw. Prices and length of the tour are negotiable, but expect to pay around ¥180 per person for a two-hour jaunt with stop-offs at several place of interest.
Song Qingling’s Residence
Song Qingling was the wife of the revolutionary leader Sun Yat Sen. Her former living quarters are now a small museum (note the pistol that Sun Yat Sen gave his wife as a wedding present). The gardens surrounding the house are beautiful.
Yandai Xie Jie
One of the loveliest streets in Beijing is lined with historic buildings, most of which have been converted into small boutiques and bars, including a temple that is now a café.

Gaudy lamp shades for sale on Yandai Xie Jie
Drum and Bell Towers
Just north of the eastern end of Yandai Xie Jie these two imposing towers once marked the northern-most limits of the city. You can ascend the towers for views of Hou Hai and beyond.