| Visite virtuelle 360 et VR

During the virtual tour through Zoom we will go to Hutongs, Houhai Lake, Yandaixiejie Lane and Drum Tower nWhen the Mongols conquered Beijing , they built streets called hutongs. Along these streets, people built clan courtyards with high walls and gates for protection. nOver the centuries, the area covered by hutong lanes kept expanding. The people developed many traditions about how to live life in the hutongs, how to decorate their hutongs according to their status. The poorer the hutong, generally the more communal they were. nHouhai has been a bustling commercial district since the Yuan Dynasty. Nowadays, Houhai is a place for Beijingers to relax and is known for its nightlife. Restaurants, bars, and cafés are dotted in the lakeside hutongs. The area is especially popular with foreign tourists and younger generations of locals. nYandai Xiejie ( or Yandai Byway 烟袋斜街) is one of such old commercial streets that showcase Beijing’s past. Yandai Byway was originally formed in Yuan Dynasty and further developed and reached its height in late Qing Dynasty. Yandai, literally “Smoking Pipes”, was once lined up with many shops selling smoking pipes, hence the name of Yandai. nDrum Tower is a two-storey building; the first floor contains the China Committee for the Promotion of the Minority Art. The second floor contains the exhibition area. Originally, there was one big drum and 24 smaller ones, but only the big remains. The method of beating it is to beat it quickly for 18 times and then slowly for 18 times. Altogether there are three rounds and 108 tollings. People knock the bell and the drum 108 times, because 108 times represent one year in ancient time