Part of our tour included a walking and cycle-cab ride through a renovated older section of Beijing, I believe North of the Forbidden City. This was a "large" alley in this neighborhood.

These were the backs of the houses, with the fronts opening onto courtyards, creating an enclosed "community" within the neighborhood. In the houses around a courtyard would live members of an extended family. This was characteristic of the xenophobic culture of the Chinese and is grandly displayed with the Great Wall, which was both to keep out barbarians as well as keep the citizens and culture in.

This area was quite pleasant to visit and not quite so crowded as the national treasure sites, probably because it was of little interest to the Chinese themselves.