Jiaodaokou (交道口) is an old hutong neighbourhood in Beijing’s Dongcheng District, just east of the city’s historic north-south axis, between the Drum Tower and the Lama Temple. The area takes its name from Jiaodaokou South Avenue, which runs through it. The name roughly means “the crossroads”, after the busy junction where that avenue meets Gulou East Street. It is a compact area of just 1.57 km², home to about 32,000 people as of 2020. Its grid of narrow lanes goes back to the Yuan-dynasty city plan of Dadu, and many of its grey-tiled courtyard houses (siheyuan) still stand. The best-known lane in the area is Nanluoguxiang, one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods, with a history of more than 700 years. A herringbone pattern of side lanes branches off it. Away from the busier, souvenir-lined main lanes, Jiaodaokou is still very much a living neighbourhood. Bicycles and tricycles squeeze past old men playing chess, laundry hangs outside red-lacquered courtyard gates, and the smell of breakfast stalls fills the lanes in the morning.
