(b) The print carries two photos: slide 1 in the online gallery (that appears in cn.nytimes.com only), plus one not shown in the online gallery in cn.nytimes.com (but the English-language report in www.nytimes.com does have the photo at issue). The last has the caption: "an outdoor diner at the Beixinqiao neighborhood, left." The last looks odd, what are the purpose of those bags.
(c) Slide 3 of the online five-slide gallery is captioned: "东四, 建筑工人修缮一处房屋的传统瓦屋顶."
The tile 瓦 in Beijing is different from those in Taiwan. I investigate, and it turns out that the 瓦 atop houses in Taiwan -- whether newly built or built in colonial time (under Japan), as long as the houses have a roof -- is Japanese-style.
(i) judie35, 細雨霏霏街頭遊逛--. 部落格: 茄苳樹窠, Jan 29, 2008. http://reader.roodo.com/judie35/archives/5342925.html
* 茄苳樹 Bischofia javanica is distributed in Taiwan and southern China, among other places.
* The 瓦 I saw in Taiwan are the one in the right half of the pertinent photo.
(ii) 瓦 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%93%A6
(photo 1)