The secret histories: Xitangzi Hutong's been largely rebuilt, but the past still catches up
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The former residence of the prime minister
I knew in advance that the houses from No.25 to No.37 all belonged to Ying He, the grand scholar, who later sold it to Zuo Zongtang, a prime minister of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). We assumed those houses would no longer be standing, but we were wrong.
Around No. 29, you can find some faded but original houses that are surprisingly well preserved for being 100 years old. This was the former residence of Zuo. A local resident named Ms Wu, who has lived nearby for 20 years, said that the courtyard had changed a lot, just like the outside lane.
"There used to be corridors beautifully surrounding the inner wall of the front yard," she said, "now there is only the east part remaining [for restoring bikes and garbage collection]." She also recalled a fish pool in the front yard that is long gone.
"The older residents said that Zuo probably lived at the backyard as he took the front yard as his stable," she said. Zuo's descendants later sold the residence to China Youth Press after 1949.
Today No.29 is a multifamily siheyuan like its neighbors. Further down to the west of the lane, No.33, which used to be Zuo's garden, is now the training school of the Beijing Female Youth Association.
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