Embrace Your Inner History Buff & Photographer All At Once With This Hutong Photowalk

Film photography has been gaining popularity as an alternative to digital, and like so many other analog fans in Beijing, there’s a group for film geeks in Beijing leading a hutong photowalk this Saturday.

A photowalk is, according to Wikipedia, “a communal activity of camera enthusiasts who gather in a group to walk around… for the main purpose of taking pictures of things that interest them.” This particular photowalk, which is organized by camera film company FlimNeverDie and historic district creative studio Panda The Dragon (PTD), will be focused on the hutongs of Dashilar.

Darshilar was chosen for the neighorhood’s distinct differences when compared to the hutongs of Dongcheng. Whereas the latter was largely bricked up and has lost most of it’s history and character, the former has remained, for the most part at least, untouched by gentrification.

Wander the lanes of the Dashilar hutongs and you’ll find more twists and turns here, buildings from way back during the Republic and filled with shops and other businesses that haven’t gone the way of the mundane as with Nanluoguxiang.

But this is only if you seek it out. “Most people think Dashilar is very commercial. Ask anyone what they know about Dashilar and they’ll say: there’s just Yangmeizhu Byway and the tourist area” says Panda, who runs PTD. “But if we take our time and explore the history and stories of Dashilar, we can find plenty of treasures waiting to be discovered.”

And what better way to capture such treasures than with film -- a medium that requires the utmost patience when being used.

The opportunities to record with film are threefold, according to Panda. People can photograph old architecture, some dating back to the Republican era; the former residences of writers, opera singers, and other famous Dashilar characters; and new architectural design in the hutongs, highlighting the urban renewal of the area.

The photowalk will begin at Darkroom Cafe in Sanjing Hutong, in which FilmNeverDie has it's new Beijing shop. From there it will go down a series of other lanes and hutongs before going to the main commercial area of Dashilar and ending at Yangmeizhu Byway.

The walk will be a chance to take in the history and old architecture of the area, which Panda hopes will inspire people’s photos for the day. A means of documenting the treasures of the Dashilar hutongs before they’re lost to time.

FilmNeverDie x PTD’s Hutong Insider Fotowalk will take place on Saturday, Dec 3 from 2-5pm. Registration is RMB 59. You can sign up for the walk by following the instructions in the WeChat article here.

READ: Weeked Walk: Literary Strolls Through Old Peking

Images courtesy of FilmNeverDie and PTD