[muppet]

Yep, the mindless destruction of the lanes that were once as 'fine and numerous as the hairs on a cow' since 1950 has been terrible. About 4,550 remain, and about 1,000 of them retain historic value and are protected.

Recently many have been restored in a vast (and brutal) blitz since 2012, with mass renewals from 2015.

By the 21st Century many of them were unrecognisable as old due to the add-ons, slum and shopfront building. What were once elegant, garrulous middle class homes, extended for single families had been subdivided to the point of an average 1sq metre of living space per Beijing resident by the 1990s, as several families shared each complex.

However this crowded density ensured a blooming of the famed Chinese streetlife, where life was lived outdoors from eating and washing to haircuts and socialising, to the Beijinger's love of games and gaming.



https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_glo...011-54_new.jpg


www.tripchinaguide.com, www.nyt.com



However, then along came the teenies. The city did several surveys and found the majority of buildings had been added since the 1950s.
They then banned shops, but kept the add-ons, though plonking on the stylised ornate roofs and murals to incorporate them into the older structure.


Before -1900s courtyard houses delineated wings for different/ new family members:



You each got your own house delineated from your fam but united by courtyards and communal eating



But the courtyards had been increasingly filled in by the late 20th Century, with the wings populated by entire families


https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-pe...129371255.html



After, rather than demolish housing for thousands, the add-ons were incorporated into the old in the restoration process:


www.roamchina.com, https://s.wsj.net

https://i.dailymail.co.uk


And the lane fronts restored

Before


www.travel-pictures-gallery.com


After -it's been brutal on local business. Hole-in-the-wall shops and stalls have been banned.


https://cdn.cnn.com

https://chinatour.net, www.chinadiscovery.com


Though main shopping streets remain


http://www.roamchina.com/attractions...ttraction_id=7

https://kikbb.com, www.absolutechinatours.com


Many have now reverted to the middle class homes they originally were. The add-ons have become part of the tradition.










Masterplans:


https://americas.uli.org

www.wurlington-bros.com, https://urbanchange.eu