This book was originally called Hutong and Others—An Exploration into Sociolinguistics (BLCUP, 1990) and had been awarded a second prize in the fifth China Book Prize. The articles in the book can be divided into two categories: the one on the origin of the Chinese word “Hutong” and the one on the studies of Beijing street names. The author’s idea that “Hutong” originated from the Mogolian way of saying “water well” had provoked some heated discussions and exerted a great influence within the academic world. The book is characterized by rich and detailed materials and a large number of pictures of Hutong.

Zhang Qingchang (1915.7-1998.1), born in Guizhou Province, was a famous linguist in China and a full professor in Beijing Language and Culture University. He had been studying in Beijing Normal University from 1930 to 1934. In 1937, he graduated from the Research Institute of Tsinghua University where he had been taught by some well-known scholars such as Yang Shuda. Since 1938, Zhang Qingchang had been teaching successively in Zhejiang University, National Southwest Associated University, Nankai University, Inner Mongolia University and Beijing Language and Culture University. He was the former vice president of Tianjin Language and Literature Society, a member of Chinese Language Society, an advisor in the Research Society for Chinese Phonology and in the Society for Chinese Language Modernization. During the early years of his life, he had made an outstanding success in studying the relationships among language, music and literature. After then, he had been involved in the researche