In order to explore the impact of western urban planning on the Chinese communities, three cases of Macau, Shanghai and Tsingtau are studied. It’s found that high-dense alley houses are common features in all these cities. Such neighborhood with lanes and alleys is recognized as a unique type of neighborhood in traditional residential architecture. The emergence of new types of alley houses indicates a double layer of urban structure with both Chinese and western cities in the process of transition from ‘the other’ to ‘the original’. It’s expected it will provide references for current large-scale urbanization.