One of the pioneers of 798 Art District in Beijing, Xu Yong through his photographic series 101 Portraits of Hutong witnesses the beauty of the traditional Chinese narrow lanes, hutongs, which have been systematically demolished in the name of rampant modernity. Once graceful and refined lanes, the hutongs
are a symbol of Chinese ancient culture, and are rapidly vanishing due
to the destructive process of Beijing's urban development.
In the 1980s Xu Yong started a campaign to preserve the uniqueness of
these historical sites. Despite the government only wanting to display
modern and Western architecture to foreigners, the 1990s saw him succeed
in organising tours in old Beijing quarters to allow people to glimpse a
breath of ancient culture.
Through these photographs Xu Yong captures fragments of a
disappearing reality, capturing the ephemeral charm of the old lanes
covered by snow, washed by rain and delicately shining under the sun. Xu
Yong's silent black and white images reflect the loneliness of the hutongs'
inhabitants as well as of the artist himself, who, in front of their
destruction, could only reveal the poetry disclosed by these sites,
grasping their fleeting beauty in a single picture.
101 Portraits of Hutong presents itself as a precious
testimony of a lost past, bringing to light memories bearing the
melancholy of the passage of time.
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