Opening Party for Hutong Cultural Center

I don't know what this is....
but it looked cool

Enjoying the weather in the courtyard

Thanks to my awesome connections (guan xi), I got an invitation to the opening of a new hutong cultural center.  The new center, located just north of the Forbidden City, chronicles some of the quickly disappearing aspects of hutong life in China's changing capital, and it is housed inside of traditional courtyard residence that once served as an urban hideaway for Beijing's elite.  These kind of boutique tourist destinations keeping popping up in the capital, and I highly recommended them to anyone visiting and looking for a taste of pre-revolutionary life.    

library filled with government
approved reading material

awesome tree

My roommate and employee of the establishment