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The center of the city of Beijing was the royal palace -- the Forbidden City and arranged around this palace were the hutongs built according to the etiquette systems of the Zhou  Dynasty.

Many of the still standing hutongs were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming (1368-1628)  and Qing (1644-1908) dynasties. By the year  1420 there were over 1000 of these alleyways surrounding the palace.