Lost in the New Beijing: The Old Neighborhood
- added July 23, 2008
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- mundosanto
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HISTORICAL cycles that took a century to unfold in the West can be compressed into less than a decade in today’s China. And that’s as true of Beijing’s preservation movement as it is of the nation’s ferocious building boom.
The explosion of construction activity that has transformed Beijing into a modern metropolis over the past decade also turned many of its historical neighborhoods — known for their narrow alleyways, or hutongs — into rubble. As grass-roots preservationists began sounding the alarm, the aging wood frames and tile roofs of the ancient courtyard houses that give these neighborhoods their identity were being supplanted so quickly by mighty towers that it was hard to pinpoint where they once stood.
Now, as they labor to protect what remains, Chinese preservationists are facing a new, equally insidious threat: gentrification. The few ancient courtyard houses that survived destruction have become coveted status symbols for the country’s growing upper class and for wealthy foreign investors. As more and more money is poured into elaborate renovations, the phenomenon is not only draining these neighborhoods of their character but also threatening to erase an entire way of life.
Meanwhile the intense focus on the fate of the hutongs has eclipsed an equally pressing preservation issue, the demolition of Socialist-style housing from the 1950s and ’60s. The imminent threat is historical censorship: a vision of the past that is so thoroughly edited that it will soon have little relation to the truth.
The explosion of construction activity that has transformed Beijing into a modern metropolis over the past decade also turned many of its historical neighborhoods — known for their narrow alleyways, or hutongs — into rubble. As grass-roots preservationists began sounding the alarm, the aging wood frames and tile roofs of the ancient courtyard houses that give these neighborhoods their identity were being supplanted so quickly by mighty towers that it was hard to pinpoint where they once stood.
Now, as they labor to protect what remains, Chinese preservationists are facing a new, equally insidious threat: gentrification. The few ancient courtyard houses that survived destruction have become coveted status symbols for the country’s growing upper class and for wealthy foreign investors. As more and more money is poured into elaborate renovations, the phenomenon is not only draining these neighborhoods of their character but also threatening to erase an entire way of life.
Meanwhile the intense focus on the fate of the hutongs has eclipsed an equally pressing preservation issue, the demolition of Socialist-style housing from the 1950s and ’60s. The imminent threat is historical censorship: a vision of the past that is so thoroughly edited that it will soon have little relation to the truth.
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- mundosanto
- 2 months ago
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Foreigners want to live in hutongs because they think it's chique and for a "chinese experience", they're pushing out the Chinese, the hutong is part of their culture. Barf.
It's crazy the changes I've seen in hutongs south of Qianmen. Just a month ago, I could barely walk in one area there was so much construction/demolition. The new walking street, just south of Tiananmen, what I like to call "all roads lead to consumer purchases" has cute little trolley cars and fake overdone facades that become a Disney hutong land. Barf.-
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- sustainablejohn
- 2 months ago
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If you look at item posted above, the map, and look at the 2008 insert, from tiananmen square/qianmen, you can see three roads that go south. this photo here was taken august 2006, as they were preparing to make the westernmost of the three roads. eventually they even tore down the mcdonald's to build that road! i tell ya the beijing government will stop at nothing! they are tearing down our wonderful western institutions! haha...-
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- sustainablejohn
- 2 months ago
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