(Ecns.cn)--In order the preserve the memory of hutong culture, a group of web users in Beijing has spent six years taking more than 10,000 photos of more than 1,000 hutongs, which will ultimately form a massive online photo database.
Currently, 5,000 pictures of over 400 hutongs have been classified and uploaded to the website called Oldbeijing.net. "We hope that more people will join us to protect hutongs in Beijing when they see these pictures," said Zhang Wei, founder of the website.
From June 2005, Zhang and his colleagues and friends started traveling through over 1,000 hutongs, taking pictures of traditional quadrangles and gates, as well as daily life in the alleys.
"We traveled through the hutongs four times, and each time we took pictures of the changes taking place there," said Zhang.
Hutongs form the memories of the local Beijing people who grew up there. But as more and more people move out of the hutongs and the government knocks them down, the culture is disappearing.
According to Zhang, some of the hutongs in his pictures have already been demolished and replaced by new buildings. "I hope other web users will upload their pictures of hutongs and old buildings in Beijing, helping us to preserve the memory," said Zhang.
Colleagues of Zhang are also editing words and stories from the hutongs, in order to create an even more comprehensive view.
