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Hutongs and lanes
Beijing's 胡同 and Shanghai's 弄堂 are the two most famous forms of old Chinese urban neighborhood. Hutongs are narrow alleys of single-story courtyard houses, the 四合院, built over centuries in the old capital; lanes are newer, mostly from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, rows of two- and three-story terraced houses shaped by Shanghai's treaty-port history. Both were crowded in the twentieth century, with many families in houses built for one; both have been extensively cleared since the 1990s, and both now include protected areas where restored houses have become shops, bars, cafés and tourist attractions. Debates about authenticity, commercialization and the fate of original residents are much the same in both cities. 杨帆's offer — to screen the film in Beijing — reflects how far that shared experience reaches.