A two-year-old boy plays in a traditional alleyway, or hutong, in central Beijing December 8, 2006. Courtyard houses, known as siheyuan in Chinese, used to be one of Beijing's most distinctive features, with families living in rooms surrounding a central courtyard. Their elaborate entrances lined alleyways, called hutongs, that criss-crossed the city. With Beijing's fast evolution into a modern metropolis, more and more hutongs disappear, local media reported. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA)