We saw a variety of housing in China.  When traveling through cities, we frequently saw high rise apartments.  Often they would have bars on the windows to protect children from falls.  Buildings of more than eight floors were required to have elevators.

Tauck, our tour company, did a great job of arranging for us to see different styles of homes and meet the families who lived in them.  I am not picturing the families here, to protect their privacy, but will share pictures of their homes.  While on the Yangtze River cruise, we visited the home of a farmer and his wife.  Their home was very rustic and had only minimal light.  The wife ground corn by hand.

We also visited a relocation village. When the Three Gorges Dam was built, many towns and villages were destroyed making it necessary for over one million people to relocate. Through a translator, the wife told us she lives in this three bedroom apartment with her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren.  As you look at the pictures, notice the squat toilet in the last picture.  These were common throughout China (but not to worry – western style toilets were in the hotels). The woman’s husband works in another city and visits just a few times a year.  Her apartment is on the second floor.  She has a store on the first floor.  She earns money from her store, gambling proceeds from a mahjongg table, and money sent by her husband.

In Beijing, we visited the home of a retired couple who live in a hutong neighborhood.  Hutong neighborhoods are characterized by narrow alleys.  Four to five homes open onto a common courtyard.  Hutongs are disappearing and there are now efforts to preserve them.  The husband was an artist and his wife had worked in a factory making mathematical compasses.  Both of them earn a pension in their retirement.  Just a short distance from their home, there was a restaurant and grocery stores.