Knocking on No. 8, the 70-year-old woman who has lived there for decades said the whole siheyuan was reconstructed years ago. "Some old houses were torn down by the families who later moved in and built new houses on their old sites," she said. The jujube tree was still by the front door of No. 8 but the old woman told that it was cut down to make way for a two-story private house in the summer of 2008. Since then, no evidence remains of the book's real-life counterparts.

Lao's son, Shu Yi, once discussed the hutong in his 2009 article, "Lao She's footprint in Xicheng district," where he revealed that when his father began Four Generations he made detailed sketches of the original No. 8 based on his memories 32 years after last setting eyes on it. "This was his birthplace where he spent most of his childhood," Shu said. Its frequent appearance in Lao's works suggest its cultural relic value should be no less than the Lao She Memorial Hall in No. 19 in Fengfu Hutong, Shu believes.

Another poor law

However, Xiaoyangjia Hutong cannot be granted natural cultural relic status because a famous person may only have one place granted such protection in a city, according to law. Further change can be inflicted upon the hutong without a thought for its past.

Despite his repudiation of foreign invaders and his admiration of the anti-feudal May Fourth Movement, Lao still managed to fall victim to the irrational impulses and class hatred of the Cultural Revolution. He was tortured, humiliated and eventually found drowned by unknown hands in 1966. His works were banned and his family risked persecution to keep them alive, hiding manuscripts in chimneys and moving them to escape the mob's wrath. His name was only rehabilitated after the toppling of Revolution instigator Jiang Qing. Alas, no such saving grace can rescue Xiaoyangjia Hutong.