Arney,

Sadly, the hootongs of Beijing are little more than a memory. My fondest memories of China are walking the hootongs of BJ 10 years ago and being followed by children, giggling and pointing at my hairy legs. Now in their place stand sky scrapers.

Oh, I forgot to mention something else to pack - a good LED flashlight. Although uncommon, power outages do occur (world wide) and China is always short on electrical power. Having a long lasting flashlight on hand will make life much better if the power should ever go out.