When the 6-year-old emperor Puyi abdicated in 1912 change was upon Beijing. Suddenly the old matriarchal structures of society were no longer kept in place. At the top of society Republican ladies would enjoy freedom and opportunity as never before. Newspapers, cigarette packages and movies inspired a whole new idea of what it meant to be a woman. However, at the bottom of society it was not curiosity that drove women out of the courtyards but poverty. To the astonishment of republican bystanders, women could now be seen doing “men’s work” laboriously pulling rickshaws in the dusty streets of the capital.

Some would say that It was about time that change caught up with the old Capital. Other places in China had embraced the ideas of modern society much earlier. In Shanghai women intellectuals, suffragettes, and actresses were already actively moving away from the traditional passive subordinate role of women. Creating an entirely new notion of women’s role in Chinese society in the process.

It was these ideas that started to shine through the cracks of the old societal structure. Even though Beijing had done everything to resist, the foundation of traditional Chinese society was crumbling and the whole house was bound to fall.

This walk takes place in the old Beijing neighborhood Dashilar. A place that traditionally was the “melting pot” of Beijing society. Dashilar was the center of development as new modern storefronts, newspaper houses, brothels and movie theaters sprung up and became important vehicles of change.