Parts of old Beijing are laced with narrow alleyways known as hutongs. This particular hutong was crowded with cyclists and pedestrians at day's end. A child sits amidst them, lost in play. An instant after I made this photograph, his mother darted into the street and pulled him to safety. This street photograph tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and even a country. The street is the living room, the playground, the roadway, and the lifeline of the community. It is a place where people know each other – some of them have probably seen this child at play here before and assume that his mother will soon be out to get him. That’s probably why nobody even looks at him, except for a brief glance from a boy who has nearly tripped on him. It is just the way Beijing works, and much of China along with it. This may be an urban crowd, but one senses a community within it.