The Hutong is the "old" Beijing. It is a community of houses that have been maintained like they have been for many years. If you were in New York or Chicago, you would call it a 'ghetto', because the conditions are deplorable. They are gradually making changes, but it is slow. There is no private ownership of any land in China, it all owned by the government. You might have a house that your family has lived in for years, but if the government wants to tear it all down to build apartments, you just have to move. We toured the Hutong area in bicycles called "pedicabs". Our trip was a little more exciting than the others, because we got stopped at an intersection and had to take a detour through some really small alleys to catch the rest of the group.

The huge grasshopper is a 'pet'.