SHANGHAI, Jan 3 -- ONLY one-third of Beijing's distinctive hutongs have not been demolished or damaged by redevelopment, a new survey has found.

The field study, conducted by the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, investigated 1,320 hutongs, or traditional lane communities. It found that 205 hutongs, 15 percent of the total, were completely demolished to make way for modern buildings.

The study also found that 52 percent retained some of their original condition but have suffered serious damage. Some have only a few courtyard houses left; in others the homes on one side of the hutong lane have been totally demolished.

Only 430 of the hutongs surveyed have been able to preserve their original character, the study found.

Hutongs once formed a dense latticework in Beijing and were an iconic cultural feature of the city.

Historical records show that Beijing had 458 hutongs in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and 978 of the communities during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The city boasted more than 3,679 hutongs in the 1980s.

Up to 600 hutongs have been destroyed each year in a relentless drive to rebuild the old city, and many people now worry that Beijing has lost something of its essence as an old capital city.