Man About Town: Writer and Translator Eric Abrahamsen on his Beijing Wanderings

On Wednesday Eric Abrahamsen, the principal contributor to Beijing by Foot (recently described as being "quite possibly the most illuminating guide to the Chinese capital this year.”), will be speaking at the China Culture Center about the history of the South Dongsi area. Below we've included an interview with Abrahamsen that appears in the current edition of agenda. Editors Alice Woodhouse and Iain Shaw began by asking Eric a bit about the Beijing by Foot project and his favorite Peking paths.

Eric Abrahamsen tells us that he began exploring Beijing’s various neighborhoods “almost as an afterthought”. According to the translator and writer, “there were several years where I walked around without really knowing what I was seeing. I liked the feel of Beijing’s older areas, but it wasn't until later that I began to seriously research the history and culture that lie behind the alleyways and buildings, and discovered that my little strolls were far, far more enjoyable when I knew the background.” Therein lay the genesis of Beijing by Foot, Abrahamsen’s recently published collection of 40 walks around Beijing neighborhoods, each mapped and annotated on its own individual card.

agenda: Beijing by Foot guides users through forty different walks in the capital, but for visitors on a tight schedule, which routes would you recommend exploring first?

I suppose if you’re here for a limited time, you’d better see the hutongs.

It’s a cliche, but it’s a cliche for a reason. Dongsi and Xisi are two of the best preserved hutong neighborhoods, and there’s a lot to recommend the area around Yonghegong and Guozijian. There is also some great walking just west of Houhai, though obviously that’s been thoroughly discovered by the pedicab tour people. Xihai provides a nice lake atmosphere with a minimum of neon.

agenda: Of all the walks covered in the book, is there one that you feel most epitomizes Beijing’s spirit?

That’s a hard question … I'm leaning towards the Dongsi neighborhood, the corridor from Chaoyangmennei Dajie in the north to Jinbao Jie in the south. It’s a hutong neighborhood that has both survived intact architecturally speaking and retains a very lively social atmosphere as well. Sometimes I think Xisi is a little too clean and quiet – it’s lacking the sense of boisterous street community that still exists in Dongsi, and if you’re talking about Beijing’s spirit, its essence is that sense of community more than any feature of architectural detail or street layout.

agenda: A few old hands may think they’ve seen it all in Beijing; which hidden gems featured on your walks will convince them otherwise?

I think the whole southern end of town is enormously underrated. It’s chaotic and down-at-heel, sure, but it’s full of life, far more varied than the north end, and full of little gems. There’s the Bada hutong area, including Xiangchang Lu, which is full of old brothels, and the neighborhood around the Beijing Train Station conceals a lot of fascinating architectural details. Less attention has been paid to reconstruction and beautification in southern Beijing, meaning you can see some wonderfully incongruous combinations of architectural styles: some of Beijing’s oldest (ie thoroughly crumbling) hutongs, plus lots of buildings constructed during the ‘20s and ‘30s, plus more temporary-feeling contemporary structures. Southern Beijing has also got Fayuan Temple, which I think people mostly skip, but is absolutely beautiful.

agenda: And which of the walks will you never tire of?

One of the first spots I fell in love with is Houmen Bridge, also called Wanning Bridge, on Di'anmen Dajie, just south of the Drum Tower. I first started going there just because the bridge looks old, and because I like the dragonish gargoyle sculptures that lie on the bank of the canal like they’re peering at the fish. Later I learned exactly how old the bridge really is, and that the gargoyles are there as a sort of mystical flood-prevention device, to drink the waters if the river ever rose too high. Next to the bridge is one of the best-preserved of a series of stone locks, part of an amazing feat of hydro-engineering that dates to the late 13th century. It’s a great little spot, ancient-feeling and full of history.

agenda: You must have run into some interesting people while researching the book – who were the most memorable and why?

Hands down the most interesting people I met were the older folks who lived in the neighborhoods I was visiting. I would pick a likely-looking target (someone old enough to have seen plenty of history, but young enough to be coherent) and ask them about their neighborhood. Some didn’t want to talk to me, but most were thrilled to meet someone who wanted to hear their stories. One very old lady used to be headmistress of a school located in the former dormitory for the employees of a Japanese-built bank. The school had closed down in the ‘80s, but she still lived in the crumbling building, one of its only tenants. A man once stopped me while I was taking pictures, demanded to see the photos in my digital camera, and then proceeded to give me all sorts of fascinating details about each of the buildings I’d photographed. Yet another older lady in the Wangfujing area started telling me about the buildings in her neighborhood, then drifted off into various events from her life and acquaintances she’d known. I realized that she had just a touch of dementia, and I was hearing a description of the neighborhood in which about forty years of history were being compressed and superimposed on the present. It was very eerie, listening to her talk about some military prison or other, all the while pointing at a convenience store.

agenda: What is your favorite memory of researching and writing the book?

Ironically, the most fun I had was probably going down into underground Beijing, basically an extended cellar/nuclear fallout shelter with no relation to the surface city. After months of tromping around Beijing’s streets, dodging traffic and squeezing through crowds, it was so wonderful to be in the darkness and stillness, and know that all the bustle was going on up above.

agenda: Aside from being a guidebook, Beijing by Foot could be seen as a snapshot of a city in the midst of a fundamental transformation, one that will continue to alter the city’s landscape over the coming decades. How do you feel, thinking that some of the paths you have covered might be unrecognizable – either partially or wholly – to future readers?

Mostly just pleased that we got them mapped and walked before they were gone! We were too late for the Qianmen area, but we did get a few neighborhoods that have since been flattened. Obviously from the point of view of utility this is unfortunate, since in a few cases readers will be visiting a very changed landscape from what’s on the cards, but from the point of view of recording Beijing’s breakneck historical change, I’m glad that we did it. I think that if you were to sigh over every lost brick you’d never smile again – it’s necessary to find some philosophical acceptance of change, and just see everything you can before it’s gone.

agenda: Alternatively, if you could have put Beijing by Foot together a century ago, what trails or sights would you have liked to feature?

No question, I would have liked to feature the city wall and its gates. I love Beijing’s medieval architecture – what's left of it – and I would have been ecstatic to walk along the top of the wall and through the gates. Those stone structures had a mass and a presence that even the new CCTV tower can't match.

Oct 15
Book Talk: Beijing by Foot
Beijing by Foot author and researcher Eric Abrahamsen discusses the history of the south Dongsi area. To RSVP e-mail kathyzheng@immersionguides.com. Free (with refreshments).
7.30pm. China Culture Center (6432 9341)

Links and Sources
Beijing by Foot
Immersions Guides
Paper Republic

The Beijinger: Who's that tall man walking around your neighborhood?
Time Out HK: Beijing by Foot