Blogs, websites keep issue alive
Many people keen to protect Beijing's historical heritage have found their own unique ways of recording and sharing the city's cultural treats.
Some have started personal blogs, online photo galleries, forums and even websites, to discuss Beijing's "hutong culture".
Zhang Wei, 30, who began earning his living in Beijing as a newspaper vendor at 17, started his non-profit website - oldbeijing.org - in 2000, to collect all information about Beijing's traditional culture and lifestyles.
In 2003, Zhang teamed up with a dozen volunteer photographers to take photos of the hutong and siheyuan courtyards, uploaded them on the Internet, and called public attention to important cases where officially designated heritage sites had been damaged or torn down by property developers.
He has also edited an e-zine called Yando Salon to record the latest situation in Beijing's hutong and siheyuan areas and in the preservation of other historical sites in Beijing and neighboring cities.
In addition, Zhang and his followers organize free lectures and workshops on the preservation of hutongs and courtyards and other aspects of traditional culture in Beijing.
Recently, they began compiling books and photo albums to spread awareness of Beijing's traditional side among both Chinese and foreigners.
China Daily
(China Daily 03/25/2008 page20)
