Living history

"It's a great opportunity to learn how Chinese are living in a traditional fashion," said Alex Gray, a Canadian who stayed with the Jing family. "We have learnt the history of China not from books but from the local people."

Wang ran through the significance of some of the abode's older inhabitants - four indispensable elements that should be in every traditional siheyuan garden.

"The taihu stone represents good luck, the gold fish represents flourishing offspring, the pomegranate tree represents happiness in life and the bamboo represents safety," she said.

She failed to elaborate on what the wild-eyed cat staring through the red lanterns portended, but a skittish group of birds seemed to already have a pretty good idea.

As Jing leafs through their numerous photo albums, certain faces appear again and again. One is the wife of the Icelandic ambassador, another is a Frenchman who comes for one month a year to practice taichi and study Chinese poetry. Before they were strangers, now they are old friends.

Pure gold

Jing's ancestors moved to Beijing during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and bought the courtyard with 10 bolts of quality fabrics worth 10 gold bars.

At today's rates the house is worth a whopping 10 million yuan ($1.3 million), or 60 kilograms of pure gold.

Wang said she was prouder of their family lineage and cultural heritage than  of their net worth.

"Jing's grandpa once served as the chief of staff for Chang Hseh-liang," she said. Chang  (1898-2001) was  a Chinese patriot and a former Kuomintang general.

"Our ancestors in the Qing Dynasty were high-ranking military officers in the Bordered Yellow Banner troupe, one of the 'Upper Three Banners' troupes under the direct command of the emperor.

"That's why we are living in Beijing's Xicheng District," she added. In old Beijing, Xicheng (the western part of city) was reserved for military officials and Dongcheng (the east) for civil servants.

Now Jing and Wang are so divorced from the city's rapid modernization they grimace when recalling a night spent in one of it's highrises, with all the attendant neon lights outside and honking cars.

"I couldn't sleep the whole night," said Wang. "I was back home by daybreak."