Wudaoying Hutong

Wudaoying Hutong is a lane in Beijing's Dongcheng district, running roughly 636 metres east to west between the Guozijian area and the approach to the Yonghegong Lama Temple, close to the Confucius Temple. It dates from the Ming dynasty, when it housed barracks for the Five Military Camps, which is the source of its name; by the Qing period it had become a residential lane for officials and merchants. It now holds independent boutiques, coffee shops including Metal Hands Coffee, set in a former 1950s repair workshop, small galleries and courtyard bars, interspersed with grey-brick siheyuan housing still in residential use. Walking the lane costs nothing, though individual galleries and bars may charge admission and coffee typically runs to thirty to sixty yuan. The nearest station is Yonghegong Lama Temple on Metro lines 2 and 5, with Exit D about five minutes from the western end. Weekday mornings and early evenings are considerably quieter than weekends.