Kaifeng is known as "seven corners, eight lanes and seventy-two hutongs". In 199, there were 75 hutongs in the city, and there were more than 1 alleys, which could be collectively called "lanes".

In a famous cultural city like Kaifeng, the naming of streets and lanes is a cultural phenomenon in itself. In addition to historical anecdotes, temples and old ruins, there are also many family names. For example, Liu Fu Hutong is the residence of Liu Chang, a famous person in the early Qing Dynasty. Liu Chang, the official of the Ministry of Justice, is an upright official, not a powerful person, and does not rely on talent to show off his merits. However, his "family is quiet, and the audience does not know that he is an expensive official." Liu Huang, his younger brother, was a magistrate in Wenzhou, and he had a good way to deal with the invasion of the Japanese, which made the Japanese lose heart and made the people feel virtuous.

There are all kinds of hutongs named after production workshops, such as Youfang Hutong, Sauce and Vinegar Hutong, Roast Chicken Hutong, Fried Rice Hutong, Black Ink Hutong and Spinner Hutong. Compared with the ancient books and records devoted to Kaifeng, such as Dream of Tokyo and Dream of Dreams, we can imagine the prosperity of commerce and handicrafts in that year.

The names of scenery and street shapes are also dizzying, such as Cui Hua Hutong, Hydrangea Hutong, Chunshu Hutong, Purslane Hutong, Shuiche Hutong, Sanyanjing (there is a well and three holes in the street), Pigeon Market (poultry market in Ming Dynasty), Beiyang Market (mutton market now), Erduoyan (street shapes like ears), and so on.

The official offices are called Xisi Hutong and Finance Department Hutong.

There are few people named by ordinal numbers, such as an alley and an alley.

most of the names of hutongs have a "beginning". In Renyi Hutong, which is located in Ximenli, there is a story about Renyi. It is said that in Qing Dynasty, there were two neighbors, Zhang and Li, who were at loggerheads over the size of the wall. Once the Li family squeezed a few feet from the Zhang family, the Zhang family wrote to the son who was an official in Beijing, hoping to subdue each other with power. The son replied with a poem: "A thousand miles of books are a wall, so why not let him be a few feet? Now I only see the wall, but I don't see Qin Shihuang." The Zhang family suddenly repented and took the initiative to let the wall in a few feet, which moved the other side to make a concession. The two families got back together and the alley became wider, so people renamed it Renyi Hutong.

Some hutongs have only one access to the outside world, which is called a "dead end".

Some hutongs are as thin as a sheep's intestines, so they have to be flat when walking opposite each other.

Some of the same hutongs are different in width and shape.

Some hutongs themselves branch off many forks.

Some of them are extremely short. Children can play slingshots from one end to the other.

Some households are sparse and have a gloomy atmosphere, such as Bafucang, which used to be a prison in the Qing Dynasty. Bafucang Hutong on the east side of Bafucang used to have only high prison walls and no one else, so I always felt "hairy" after passing by.

Courtyards in hutongs and alleys are mostly quadrangles. In the old days, when you walked through the street, you didn't have to ask about it. Just looking at the front door, you could know whether the rich or the poor lived in this yard. The courtyards where rich people live all have gatehouses, some have halls and screen walls, and the gatehouses are higher than the street. The richer they are, the more afraid they will be. There are only two wooden doors or even simple fence doors in the courtyard of Huan's poor family, and some of them have no doors at all. There is a hole in the adobe wall that can be accessed. Anyway, the poor family is not afraid of thieves stealing.

"People pay attention to living in the first house", and the first house is the first house for the long-term residence of a family. If it is a multi-family miscellaneous hospital, the one who lives in the house is superior to other families in social status and economic status. Most of the rich and powerful families are concentrated in the city center, so there are many Hutongli gatehouses around the city center; Poor people live in remote areas around the city, so the Hutongli gatehouse in remote areas is rare. In the hutongs near Ximen, there are many rickshaw workers and plasterers. Most of the people in the north gate boil alkali; There are many irons and coals inside and outside the South Gate. It's not easy for them to take care of their stomachs. How can they spare money to repair their doorways? So it is a dilapidated scene. But no matter rich or poor, they all like to plant some flowers and plants in front of and behind their houses to decorate their lives. As soon as the window paper turns white, there will be a long and pleasant cry from the flower seller: "Who wants the pink flowers and fragrant flowers?" This can't help but remind people of Lu You's famous poem, "A small building listens to the spring rain all night, and a deep alley sells apricot flowers in the Ming Dynasty." The girls dyed their red nails with peach blossoms to satisfy their love of beauty.

Door-to-door is the most common social way for residents in alleys. Women always bring needlework when they visit, and they can talk and work correctly. Men, on the other hand, like to have a "dinner party" outside the yard when eating. When they see the delicious food in their bowls, they put on a chopstick, squat or stand, and laugh and curse while eating. If they have a big appetite, they will hold the bowl and eat it. The housewives always give it to other families in the same hospital to taste when they cook a changed meal and spread pancakes in jiaozi. At night, the hutong becomes a children's world, playing various games such as "fighting on horseback", "riding a blind donkey", "crossing the city gate", "selling flowers" and "catching the old and boring".

History is advancing, times are developing, cities are developing, hutongs are changing, and people in hutongs are also changing.

With the formation of modern urban structure, the towering of high-rise buildings and the deepening of rapid transportation system, more and more urban alleys are lost in the roar of machines.