Mark Rutte’s Day in the Hutongs

This Wednesday, we were honored to show the Dutch Prime minister, Mark Rutte, around in the hutong alleyways of the Dashilar district.

The calligraphy brush maker Hu Chengming , who has lived in Dashilar his whole life, shows the Prime Minister how to make a Song dynasty brush.

The Hutong area of Dashilar, where our own historical workshop is located, is part of a project that seeks to gentrify old neighborhoods of Beijing with respect for history. The idea is to let original residents and projects rooted in Beijing history and culture co-exist.

Mark Rutte embraces Wang Xiuren whose family has lived in Yangmeizhu xiejie for 400 years.

The Dashilar area is incredibly fascinating. During the dynasties, it was the doorstep of the capital, where merchants, tea houses, prostitutes, pawn brokers, actors—you name it—lived squeezed together just outside the city wall. Today, it remains an area with incredible diversity, featuring long-time residents, boutique stores and all kinds of creative projects.

Wang Xiuren shows Mark Rutte family pictures. The Wang family belongs to the Muslim Huihui minority. Originally Wang’s family ran a pharmacy in Dashilar, but today they have turned their hutong home into a family museum.

In our view there is at the moment not a better place to experience the sprawling life of the hutongs than Dashilar. Besides the families with generations of history and their traditional handcraft skills, the Prime Minister also met Wen Ting, one of the young entrepreneurs, who strive to create hutong co-working and event spaces in the very heart of the capital.

Mark Rutte talks to a local official involved in the Dashilar project

Mark Rutte also had the opportunity to talk to the Chinese officials responsible for the Dashilar project, and told them that he himself is a trained historian, and all the way through his many years as Prime Minister, he has still taught two hours of history at a local Dutch school every week. In this way he seeks to maintain a relation to somethings outside of the political arena.

We hope that our tour in the same way gave him a grounded perspective on Beijing seen from the alleyways of the capital.