Folk Woodblock Picture
     It is a kind of picture enjoying popularity among the people with a large variety. A few of them are singled out for appreciation, but most of them are used for different worldly life and protocols, such as the portrait of the Gate God, the portrait of gods, illustration, pictures for packaging and decorating, window flowers, lamp pictures, kites, paper cards, colourful squares, flags, embroidery patterns. Of these pictures some are printed in a single colour (black), some others are printed in chromatography or by the continuation of colour applying. It is a characteristic way of picture popularization from the invention of China's woodblock printing to the contemporary printing skill. Their authors are professional painter and engravers. Some of them are anonymously created by farmers.

     It is spread in the north of China, and named after the village where it is produced. It originated in the Chongzhen Period of the Ming Dynasty, and flourished in the Yongzheng Period and the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty. It inherits the traditional printing craft: it is coloured after the image appears on the link lines. The characters' countenances and attires are painted in lead powder in golden colour. Its sources of themes are from the Three Beauties, the Theft of the Charmed Herb, etc.

Peking Opera
     Originally a form of local theatre, it spread all over the country and has become the national opera of China. About 200 years ago, the Qing Emperor Qianlong toured in southern China and developed an interest in the local operas. On his 80th birthday, he had local opera troupes to come to Beijing to perform for him. Some remained in Beijing after the celebration. The ones from Anhui and Hubei were incorporated the palace opera -Kunqu Opera- and became the Peking Opera.

     Peking Opera combines stylized acting with singing, dancing, musical dialogue, martial arts, colorful facial make up and fantastic costumes. Female roles are called dan, male roles are sheng, clowns are chou. Each role, according to their sex, age and disposition, is characterized by different designs of facial make-up, such as jing representing a rough, frank character and hua lian representing a cruel or sinister character. So the audience can easily tell what kind of characters the actors are portraying. Facial make-up, costumes and head - dresses are wonderful works of traditional art.

     In the past, both dan and sheng roles were played by male actors, but now they are played separately by females and males.

     It is a must to see a Peking Opera while you are in Beijing, equivalent to seeing an opera if you go to Italy.

     There are also some other types of operas staged in Beijing, such as Kunqu Opera, Pingju Opera and Hebei Bangzi as well as other operas from different places.

Hutong(lanes/alleys)
     What are most fascinating about the modernized Beijing are not the skyscrapers or broad streets, but the winding, secluded hutong, where there are beautiful siheyuan.

     It is therefore fitting and proper to call the culture of the ancient capital ¡®hutong culture¡¯ or ¡®siheyuan culture¡¯.

     Beijing used to comprise tens of thousandsof siheyuan of different sizes orderly arranged in rows. The passages between the rows were hutong.

     In the Yuan Dynasty, each hutong was as wide as a large three-courtyard quadrangle. It was later divided into many nameless narrower lanes by houses built in it. Hence the saying that goes, ¡®there are 3,600 hutong with names, while nameless ones are as many as the hairs on a cow¡¯.

     By 1949, there were 6,074 streets and lanes with names, among which were 1,330 hutong, 172 avenues, 111 lanes, 85 streets, 71 alleys, and 37 roads. Streets, lanes and alleys were customarily lumped together as hutong.

     Beijing is crisscrossed by thousands of hutong, where there are numerous ¡®sweet homes¡¯. That is the main reason why citizens of Beijing are so much attached to them.

     The slimmest hutong is Qianshi Hutong in Dashilan Area beyond the Front Gate (qianmen). The narrowest part of it measures only 40 centimeters wide. Some hutong are known for being tortuous. Beixinqiao Hutong, for instance, was said to have nine bends, but it actually had more than twenty; it was later divided into five parts. The lane beyond the Front Gate, also said to have nine bends, actually has thirteen. The names of hutong are like an encyclopedia of the city¡¯s history and folk customs. In recent years, hutong has been developed as a precious tourist resource.

     As the shabby old dazayuan (quadrangle shared by several households) are being replaced by modernized buildings, old hutong will be gone too. However, many famous hutong have been preserved as cultural relics reflecting the city¡¯s history as an ancient capital. They are among the remnants of the past of this fast developing city.

     The tour of hutong has been developed as a new sightseeing program for foreign tourists. Man-powered tricycles, a means of transport typical of old Beijing, will take them past Shichahai and Yinding Bridge to the drum tower, where they may enjoy a view of the old city crisscrossed by lanes. Then they will be taken to Houhai, where they may visit such ancient hutong as the southern and northern Guanfang Hutong, the big and small Golden Lion Hutong, and Qianhoujing Hutong. They may walk into siheyuan and chat with the inhabitants. Finally, they will be taken along Liuyin Street to the mansion of Prince Gong, known as the Garden of Grand View, to see the houses of nobles and imperial gardens.

     Foreign tourists are profuse in their praise for the beauty of hutong. Carrying the age-old culture of Beijing, hutong has eternal charm.