Volunteers and participants at walking tour Photo: Courtesy of Qiu Xiaoshi

As children around the world celebrated International Children's Day Saturday, a group of grown-ups in Beijing gathered for a walking tour near Dongzhimen in the east part of the city to discover a part of the neighborhood that often goes unseen.

"I had really memorable experiences while taking similar walking tours when I was studying in the US. I got to learn more about the city I was staying in and its history. That was when I realized that I did not know that much about Beijing, the city where I was born. After moving back to China, I felt the need to further explore the city, the neighborhood where I live," Zhu Xiaochen, a young professional living in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Jane's Walk, the annual festival featuring free, citizen-led walking tours, is celebrated in hundreds of cities around the world. It encourages people to uses walking as a way to connect with their neighbors and where they live. It provides a platform for people to observe, share, question and re-imagine the places where they live, work and play.

The walk is to honor the ideas of Jane Jacobs.

"Jane Jacobs is the author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In the book, she discusses what a vibrant city looks like. Jacobs is an icon in the field of urban planning, especially in the aspect of streets planning. She advocates for streets to be people-friendly, meaning the streets are safe for people to walk and people can have a community life on the street," said Wang Haoyu, a city planner in Beijing.

The organizers of the walk were all volunteers, most of whom work in the field of urban planning or architecture. According to one volunteer, this was the first time the event was held in Beijing. The one-hour route they choose started at Dongzhimen, one of Beijing's old city gates, and ending at the Wudaoying Hutong. This route was chosen because a number of interesting places can be found along the way, such as hutong (narrow alleys), commercial centers and transportation nodes, and tourist hot spots such as temples.

"Walking down hutong gives us an opportunity to discuss how Beijing can develop as a metropolis while preserving the city's ancient heritage. I think events like this are very meaningful," Zhu said.