1.   Climbing down from the wall it is possible to head for the old part of town, to wander through some late Ming Dynasty courtyard homes.

2.   Depending on weather and time, you may see children playing or elders gossiping in the lanes, but most life goes on inside the courtyard homes.

3.   In ancient times, low wooden planks were installed beneath doors in palaces and courtyard homes to keep out the ghosts.

4.   Like the Zhous, they also live and work together, sharing a typical Chinese courtyard home in the suburbs of Beijing.

5.   Along narrow roads, crumbling brick courtyard style homes stand beside gleaming new ten-story hotels.

6.   I searched in vain for my old courtyard home in the Great Sweet Water Well Hutong, or lane.

7.   Traditional courtyard homes that use coal stoves for heating must shift to high-quality coal, which burns cleaner.

8.   Weekends have drawn hordes of people to Shihai, a normally quiet neighborhood of old courtyard homes surrounding man-made lakes in central Beijing.