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Pedal Your Way to Princely Palaces

ike any city rich in history, Beijing has much to offer tourists and other sightseers. From the majestic Forbidden City to fanciful hutongs and courtyards, visitors are usually feasted with the old capital's architectural heritage--what might be termed magnificent but routine places. They rarely get the chance to view an off-the-beaten-track dimension of enchantment, some of the ancient capital's most intriguing and enlightening sites.

Among them are wangfu, or dwelling compounds of imperial families, hidden away in many of the city's mysterious hutongs. These families were actually a high social group, including the eight "iron-capped" princes who helped to create the Qing Empire. Their descendants include those who inherited their titles, and the sons of emperors-in-waiting for the throne. Simply, well-born courtiers who were also distinguished by their power and status in and around the imperial court.

istorical records show there were more than 40 princely palaces in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), allotted imperial properties which still lie scattered mainly in the inner city of Old Beijing, interspersed among the warren of ordinary people's courtyards mainly in hutongs in the Dongcheng and Xicheng districts. Some of these largely forgotten buildings, both notable for their grandeur or through their exquisite architectural style, stand as a kind of mini, albeit scattered, Forbidden City.

Sadly, many wangfu have been demolished to make way for new constructions. The good news is that others Ñ now under government protection Ñ have been or are being converted into more modern buildings. The fact that they will be used for various purposes, including as schools, clinics, production units and storehouses, may raise an eyebrow among preservationists. But at least their basic structures will remain, and in their own way continue to represent an aspect of Beijing's cultural history.

The map on the next page should help you to track down, by bicycle, surviving wangfu, where you are almost bound to find elderly neighbors more than happy to pass on recollections of the times when their own ancestors lived in the area.