The ChinaMania continues...

classic Beijing snapshot.. ahh..

*Newsflash: Dissertation topic on Beijing, approved! Well technically it's about informal landscapes, but Beijing is chosen as a case study. Which means.. I can spend lots of time reading about a subject that totally fascinates me while calling it 'research' hehehe.. Now this is what you call 'work smart' *

Anyway, the more I read about China and Beijing, the more I want to try and live there, be a part of it all.. And the more frustrated I become when reading about all the destruction of cultural heritage that's going on.. And, on the grounds of cultural revolution alone, the more I hate Chairman Mao...

I can't pour in the jumbled up thoughts in my mind, but basically, the Cultural Revolution screwed China upside down by destroying traditions, destroying urban fabric, destroying appreciation of imperial China and the wealth of culture, beauty and refinement that it represents.. The maxim of the 'revolution' is to destroy the Four Olds - Thoughts, Culture, Customs, and Habits. I just find it ironic that the bits that should be preserved, like appreciation and pride for China's imperial history and the architectural manifestations is brainwashed away, while bits like corruption (which was rampant towards the end of imperial rule) came back right away after the Revolution and is still deeply ingrained. Talk about disastrous failure.

I've fallen in love with the hutong, no denying it. My view might be the naive, romantic outsider view that sees it as a very unique way of life that deserves to be preserved while the very people inhabiting these hutongs think they are sub-standard dwellings and want to move away to modern apartments. Then again, it is possible to make these places beautiful AND comfortable as well, it is a matter of political will and whether people view heritage as something important. I mean, look at all the famous European cities.. Paris, Rome, Venice.. what gives the city character are all the old buildings, and I don't mean the landmarks like Colosseum, but just the typical old housing.. Beijing is in the process of gutting itself and dang, few things are more painful than seeing something you love in the process of self-destruction..

I guess for now, I'll just have to accept that China and perhaps *though I hope not really* the majority of its people do not care about the priceless, irreplaceable architectural heritage that it is thoughtlessly destroying. After all, if the existence of rundown, neglected hutongs is still sinonymous with poverty, it is unfair for Chinese people too. Guess what I gotta do is be very, very passionate about saving the heritage I just fell in love with, and hope this passion infect as many people as possible..

On a side note, I read about an overseas American tycoon that started buying up old buildings in Beijing so that the government and developers cannot raze them.. He went to the extent that he took apart an old building in a soon-to-be-destroyed area and reconstructed it piece by piece somewhere else.. Wow.. The hua qiao blood in me is boiling already!

"A measure of any great city is its potential for accidental discoveries, those places without entrance fees and tour guides that make you want to stay longer in hopes of finding the next one. Despite the advanced stage of the Old City's destruction, Beijing still held this attraction."
- Michael Meyer, The Last Days of Old Beijing