Fengfu Hutong

Lying near from Wangfujing Main Street, Dongcheng District of Beijing, Fengfu Hutong may not look like much - quite literally at the first glance. At less than four meters wide, Fengfu Hutong is in stark contrast to the six-lane boulevards that characterize much of Beijing. Yet this little street has a big personality and has been home to some of the most famous names in Chinese history.

Take No. 19, for instance, the former residence of writer Lao She, and now a museum in his memory. In 1949, at the invitation of premier Zhou Enlai, Lao She gave up his comfortable life in America and returned to a war-ravaged China. As a hutong-born writer (see A place with no memory: Xiaoyangjia Hutong, February 8) he spent the next 16 years comfortably living in Fengfu in what was then known as No 10.

The babysitter's dead…

Actually, Fengfu itself used to be called Fengsheng but confusion with another hutong of the same name in Xicheng district led to the name being changed in the 60s to avoid further mix-ups. However, the name Fengsheng has an interesting back story. The area, formerly known as Nai Zi Fu, was the official home for wet nurses prior to their moving to the imperial palace. In feudal China, concubines or empresses left their children to be suckled by other new mothers, a wretched existence generally but with a potentially great future for a lucky few.

One such woman was Ke Shi, who looked after Ming Emperor Zhu Youxiao. When he ascended to the throne, the former nanny joined his ascendancy, eventually reaching the rank of Feng Sheng Fu Ren (Emperor's Servant Madam) and her original home was named after her. While things didn't end so well for Ke - her monopoly of power led to the former babysitter being executed after Zhu died - the name of the hutong remained.