Time: 5:33PM, September 2nd

Place: Eternal Hutong

Character: Xiao Zhao, 15

Each time you pass through Eternal Hutong you see a scarlet armchair next to the entrance of the hutong’s bathroom. In a hutong that lives and breathes the essence of “Old Beijing”, the armchair’s modern look is rather conspicuous.

Xiao Zhao sitting on the scarlet armchair listening to music from her cell phone when we asked her if she knew where the armchair had come from. Xiao Zhao shook her head and explained that she had only been “in Beijing for 3 or 4 days. The sofa has been here since I arrived.”

Xiao Zhao just turned 14 and about to enter 5th grade back in her home in Dongbei Province. Her aunt and uncle take care of the public bathrooms sanitation. Sitting beside Xiao Zhao was her 21-year-old sister who had arived in Beijing 2 months earlier to work in a hospital cafeteria.

Even though summer vacation had already ended, Xiao Zhao was is still in Beijing enjoying her “break.” Each day she would take walks through the hutong and sit on the scarlet armchair with relatives chatting, eating, or listening to music on her sister’s cell phone. And like most non-Beijingers, she has “visited Tiananmen Square and the Bird’s Nest [Bejing’s Olympic Stadium].”

Beijing’s hutong make her feel refreshed but she still gets homesick, “There’s no TV to watch here.” When asked how long she plans to stay, she responds, “Maybe I’ll go back in a few days… maybe I’ll a stay a month.”

Beijing’s old hutong host quite a few of China’s “floating population”. Like a breath of wind flowing through Beijing’s hutong, they follow the footsteps of their relatives before them not knowing when they’ll leave or if they’ll find a job.

[胡同里的沙发人类学]

120902｜永恒胡同｜小赵

时间：2012年9月2日17：33

地点：永恒胡同

人物：小赵，14岁，公共厕所清洁工侄女

每次经过永恒胡同，总能看到公共厕所门口那个鲜红色的大沙发。在充满老北京生活气息的胡同里，这个带点摩登气息的沙发非常的显眼。

我们问坐在这个红沙发上，正用手机听着音乐的小赵，这个沙发从哪里来的。她摇摇头，说自己刚来三四天，来的时候它就在了。

小赵今年刚14岁，在东北老家，准备念五年级。她的姑姑和姑丈是身后公共厕所的清洁工。她旁边的姐姐，21岁，也刚来北京工作两个月，在北京某医院里卖熟食。

虽然学校的暑假已经结束，小赵仍在北京过她的“暑假”。每天在胡同里转转，在大红沙发上和家人们坐着，聊天，吃饭，或者拿着姐姐的手机听音乐；也和所有来北京的外地人一样，”去天安门，去鸟巢”。

北京的胡同让小赵感到新鲜，但有的时候她还是会想家，“在这里没有电视看” 。问小赵会在北京待多久，她并不能确定，“有可能几天就回去”，“有可能会在这里待到一月份”。

事实上，北京的老胡同里，有不少像小赵这样的流动人口。他们因为在这里工作的亲戚而来，不确定何时离开，就像胡同里的一阵风。