Exploring Beijing’s Qiangan Hutong: Family Legends and Historical Changes in the Ancient Courtyards

Nestled near Beijing’s Shichahai Lake lies Qiangan Hutong, an ordinary-seeming lane that bears a wealth of history. Stretching straight and narrow from Qianhai West Street in the east to Sanqiaoqiao Hutong in the west, it can be seen in its entirety at a single glance.

Its story dates back to the Yuan Dynasty: known as Jiangan Hutong in the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Qiangan Hutong in the Republican period due to a similar pronunciation. Though the hutong is short, two courtyards within it hold astonishing family stories.

Two Courtyards, Two Closed History Books

Today’s Qiangan Hutong is a place of quiet calm. The bustle of tourists from the neighboring Sanqiaoqiao Hutong seems to fade away here, with only the occasional pagoda tree flowers falling in the empty courtyards. Two courtyards stand out prominently in the hutong: Courtyard No.3 and Courtyard No.5. Their gates are tightly closed now, like two closed history books, yet the stories recorded inside could not be more different.

Courtyard No.3: The Lost Ancient Mansion of a Pharmacy Family

Courtyard No.3 looks unremarkable today, its entrance even blocked off. But this was once the ancestral home of the Le family, founders of Tianjin’s Darentang Pharmacy. Darentang is a renowned time-honored traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy in China, yet as time has changed, no trace of its connection to this distinguished family can be seen from the courtyard’s exterior today, leaving nothing but space for the imagination.

 Courtyard No.5: From the “Princess Mansion” to a Scientist’s Home

In contrast to No.3, the story of Courtyard No.5 is clearer and more legendary. The former owner of this courtyard was a towering figure in Chinese science—Mr. Qi Changqing.

Who was Qi Changqing? He was one of the founders of China’s biological products research and once served as the director of the Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products under the Ministry of Health. His greatest contributions are twofold:

•  He developed the Tiantan Strain, a virus strain used to produce the smallpox vaccine. This strain was adopted nationwide and ultimately helped China eradicate smallpox, a terrifying infectious disease.
• He also developed China’s rabies vaccine virus strain, the Beijing Strain, which has saved countless lives.

His family background was equally extraordinary. His first wife was a descendant of Yunxiang, the Prince Yinxian of Heshuo, and also a niece of Puyi, the last emperor of China. Because of this marriage, the courtyard was once known as the Princess Mansion (Gege, the Manchu term for imperial princesses). A few years ago, Mr. Qi’s descendants opened the courtyard to tourists for visits. After a full renovation, however, it now only hosts custom private banquets. According to neighboring residents, the interior decoration of the courtyard is exquisite.

Seven Stone Steps: A Hidden Code of Social Hierarchy

If you look closely at Courtyard No.5, you will notice a special detail: there are seven stone steps leading up to its gate. This was no random design—in the Qing Dynasty, it symbolized an extremely high status and imperial kinship, a feature typically reserved only for royal mansions.

In the minds of ancient Chinese people, the number of steps leading to a gate was of great significance, believed to influence a family’s fortune and moral character. The number “seven” was regarded as an auspicious and complete number in traditional culture. Seven steps were often used for imperial palaces or important temples, embodying nobility and majesty. The ancients believed that such steps could channel the righteous energy of heaven and earth into the home, filling the entire building with positive energy and ensuring the prosperity of the family. Visually, the seven steps also give people the pleasant feeling of ascending step by step, making constant progress in one’s career and achieving greater accomplishments.

A Microcosm of History Within a Hundred Steps

Walking the length of the short Qiangan Hutong may take you no more than a hundred steps. Yet within those hundred steps, you feel as if you have traveled through centuries, witnessing the overlapping figures of different eras: imperial relatives of the dynasty, wealthy merchants, and scientific pioneers who drove social progress… Their stories all once unfolded in this tiny hutong.

Today, Qiangan Hutong has lost the lively residential vibe of a place where diverse families once lived together, and is more like a quiet observer of history. It sits serenely beside the bustling Shichahai neighborhood, its gate towers tightly closed, guarding the unknown stories within. For visitors who stumble upon it by chance, it is just an ordinary lane; but for those who know its stories, every brick and every stone step here whispers of the rich and profound memories of Beijing.