Most of the stories in the first two collections are about ordinary residents, including a craftsman and a retired school teacher.
Wang Jinghu volunteered to be the writer when he found out that his great grandfather, who died in 1959 when Wang was only five years old, would be included.
Wang has handwritten more than 20 pages. The mechanical engineer is not unfamiliar with pens and ink, but "unlike engineering drawings, writing is not an easy job," he says. "The pen didn't seem to be a good match for me in the beginning, but everyday I am getting better."
The job became even harder when Wang was faced with the lack of documents. He has used all that have been preserved in his home, but that is not enough to support the story.
So he has to find other alternatives, such as writings about or by other Peking Opera performers who were apprentices of his ancestors or kept close relations with them, just in search for any mention of his family.
Another source, however, is intangible and only exists in Wang's memory, where the man would find himself sitting on the chair in that courtyard, listening to the stories about his ancestors by the elders in the family.
TANGIBLE THREAT
Hutong communities began to take shape in Beijing in the 13th century. Statistics in 1949 showed that about 1,300 alleys in the capital were called hutong, but habitually, hutong may also refer to other alleys that unnecessarily bear the name, such as "xiang" (lane) and "jie" (street). As an old adage says, there are as many unnamed hutongs in Beijing as there are hairs on a bull.
The centuries old architectural legacies faced threat of disappearance when urban development of the ancient capital accelerated amid the roar of bulldozers in the 1990s. Fortunately, the Beijing municipal government decided to leave the last hutongs in situ, thanks to calls for protection efforts.
However, the problems facing hutong preservation today are less about demolition than intangible heritage protection, which has become more imminent since hutongs were saved.
Non-material culture of hutong is fading with the encroachment of modern civilization and the flux of young people, who have moved to other places to find more convenient living conditions, such as central heating and private toilet.
"Indeed the physical complex has remained, but hutongs are much more than buildings," says Li Xiaohui. "People and their lives are an integral part of hutong lives and history. That's why we want to record their stories."
REVITALIZATION
The biography project is supported by Wutong Community College, a non-profit organization focusing on community revitalization, which offers 5,000 yuan (about 700 U.S. dollars) for the first episode of the stories.
The group "wants to highlight the value of ordinary hutong residents in passing on Beijing's traditions and culture," says Li Jie, director and founder of Wutong.
"Their life stories, though perhaps uneventful, are reflections of the great changes ordinary Beijing residents have witnessed, and, thus, should not be ignored," the director says.
"For the future generations of hutong residents, I think they should first know where they are from, then they can be aware of where they are going," she says.
Xu Hua, a voluntary academic director of the biography project, says that it is very important to explore the stories behind hutongs, where both celebrities and common people once mixed, as "residents there are the epitome of Beijing's culture and traditions."
Xu sees the biography project as a very small step towards a more ambitious program -- the oral history of hutong communities.
Xu believes an oral history program may help cultivate a sense of community among residents. "We may begin with personal or family history by helping people record their own stories and trace their family trees."
Li Xiaohui, the community secretary, also wants to do more. She says that stories about hutongs, once the blood vessels of Beijing, are a valuable resource for the studies of Beijing's history and culture.
She hopes one day the stories of her neighborhood can be put onto stage for visitors to Dashilar.
"When visitors can sit down in our hutong and listen to or watch our stories, they can take a piece of Beijing away with them."
