Ｏｌｄ　ａｎｄ　Ｎｅｗ　Ｍｅｅｔ　ｉｎ　ａ　Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ　Ｈｕｔｏｎｇ.docVIP

Ｏｌｄ　ａｎｄ　Ｎｅｗ　Ｍｅｅｔ　ｉｎ　ａ　Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ　Ｈｕｔｏｎｇ 　　 　　JIN Xin, the young owner of the Pass By Bar, looks calm and detached as he talks, angling his head. The Pass By was the first bar to open on Nanluoguxiang (NLGX), a hutong now packed with bars and cafés in the old part of Beijing. Since 1999, the lane has been transformed from a quiet residential area into a popular place for socializing and buying traditional Beijing cultural products. 　　The 800-meter long north-south hutong is just few kilometers from the rear of the Forbidden City. “A decade ago, it was like a girl who never used makeup, but now she abuses it a little bit,” comments Jin Xin. 　　 　　Old Times 　　 　　Established in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), NLGX used to be called Luoguoxiang. In the 15th year of Emperor Qian Long’s reign (1750), the name was changed to its present moniker. Today NLGX remains one of the best-preserved hutongs featuring traditional Beijing architecture ?C an oasis of traditional buildings in a sea of demolition and building sites. 　　Beijing was once riddled with thousands of “hutong,” or lanes, dissecting the old city like a maze. The Names of Beijing Streets and Alleys published in 1986 states that at that time there were 6,104 hutongs in Beijing. As modernization and economic development have quickened, the hutongs have rapidly disappeared, replaced by wide boulevards and highrises. There are now only 1,300 of the old lanes still intact. 　　NLGX was once home to many celebrities and officials. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic, and Chiang Kai-shek, long-term head of the Kuomintang, both lived here for a time. Among the 1,000 courtyards in this area, there are several hundreds well-preserved structures featuring traditional entrance gates and screen walls. Although the archaic buildings today appear less stately than they once did, the exquisite architectural carvings still convey a sumptuous ambience. The culture and atmosphere of old Beijing lend a special flavor to the