This is a sort of behind the scenes look at a Hutong. This alley leads to the back doors of all the homes/shops/markets in one of the courtyards. Locals congregate here to play card games or Chinese checkers or just escape for a few minutes from their work. They'll string up clothes lines from building to building and hang up clothes to dry even in the freezing cold. The mess of wires above the buildings shows how haphazardly each place has been connected to the local grid and, often, the Internet.