Posted by guillermo maynez
on 5/12/2011, 16:17:55, in reply to "Rickshaw (aka Camel Xiangzi)"
189.178.234.130
Thanks again! You are very right, as I'm reading the book, I have kept imagining the "courtyard" as a very big space surrounded by lodging buildings. When preparations were made for Fourth Master Liu's birthday party, the talk about the "big tent", according to me, confirmed I was right, for it seems that the large tent would obviously have to be installed in that same big courtyard. Now I have trouble imagining the tent, unless Master Liu's compound had a big unused space at the back or to one side.
--Previous Message--
: I finished Rickshaw last night. As we discussed earlier,
: I was reading the translation by Jean M. James. How
: are the rest of you doing and which translation are
: you reading?
:
: Beijing has, of course, changed enormously since the
: 1920s when the novel is set. The city walls and gates
: are all gone, replaced by ring roads. Many of the
: neighborhoods are unchanged, however, and last year I
: visited a courtyard residence similar to the one
: featured in the novel.
:
:
:
: As you can see from the photo, the courtyard is much
: narrower than the mental picture you are likely to
: have while reading the book. It is more an alley than
: a yard. The living conditions have no doubt improved
: over the years. Families typically buy up or rent
: several adjoining rooms, or even the entire courtyard.
: One thing that hasn't changed, though is the communal
: privy, easily located by its smell. The individual
: homes have electricity and internet, but no running
: water.
:
: The courtyard residences of Beijing are called
: "Hutongs," and there is a nice article on
: them in Wikipedia:
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong
:
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