30 May, 2022
The urbanisation of Beijing - people's living patterns.
Wang Zhaohui lives in a courtyard in Beijing worth hundreds of millions of RMB. He was born in 1960 and has lived in Beijing for 62 years. He has seen how China has developed over the past 60 years. Our lanes are full of courtyards, which are inconvenient, but they are cultural treasures," he says. Beijing has a rich history and culture, and many of the places where people lived have been compressed to preserve these historical sites. At the same time' the value of these courtyards is soaring. This is because many wealthy people like this blend with history, even if life in the courtyard is not so convenient'.
30 May, 2022
'Hutong'(the street of courtyards)
The courtyards are located in the alleys of central Beijing. Beijing is centred on the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the closer you are to it, the more monuments there are and the more trade malls there are, the higher the price.
Mr Wang, who lives in Beijing, said: "People always see amazing sights in Beijing, with tall buildings in the front and ancient buildings in the back. People love the ancient buildings in China, but with the development of technology, they are no longer habitable. Many of the courtyards are dangerous for people to live in. The current steel forest did not rise up flat either. Before that, there must have been something else on its original site. But to build this steel forest, levelling it, was what had to be done. '
30 May, 2022
Front door of one courtyard
According to statistics, in the early 1980s there were more than 3,000 hutongs in the old part of Beijing that were almost intact; by the 1990s there were only about 1,200 left. Later, hutongs disappeared at an even faster rate. In September 2007 alone, 361 hutongs were demolished in Beijing at the same time. The disappearance of the hutongs meant the disappearance of the courtyards.
Liu Nianling, who runs a stall on the street, says she knows that many people lack understanding about preserving Beijing's courtyards." We live in Beijing and we know very well that it's not that these courtyards can't be demolished, but they can't afford it anymore. Firstly because there is not that much money for demolition and construction. Secondly it is also to preserve the historical value of these courtyards'.
30 May, 2022
Courtyards are occupied by hotels
Most of the non-residential courtyards are occupied by schools and other institutions, or developed as commercial land for hotels, bed and breakfasts and private clubs, while most of the residential courtyards, apart from the commercially tradable parts, have been reduced to dilapidated compounds with complex property rights, which are no longer available in previous lives.
30 May, 2022
The Summer Palace in Beijing, located in the area around Beijing, where many tourists are willing to purchase tickets to visit.
Regarding the urbanisation of Beijing, Wang said, 'The transformation of old cities is a long-term process, and when society and the country are at a new moment of development, it will present a large-scale renewal of old cities. But China is a cultural powerhouse, and each city has its own cultural characteristics. After urbanisation, a thousand cities all look the same, and the 'artificialisation' and 'urbanisation' have seriously damaged the original environment of cultural heritage. While I support the change of urbanisation, I do not want to see these historical cultures lost. '
30 May, 2022
Hutong in a quadrangle, with monuments in front that cannot be demolished without funding, and tall buildings behind.
The draft of the Beijing Urban Master Plan (2016-2030) was officially released to the public at the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall to start soliciting and taking in public opinions. In the section on integrated urban and rural development, the draft proposes to build a new type of urban-rural relationship in which the city leads the countryside and the city and the countryside are integrated; the central city, the sub-city centres and the surrounding urban areas are to be fully urbanised. These cultural relics are destined to be obstacles.
30 May, 2022
Guanmiao Tower
Due to the basic requirements of urbanisation, the overall appearance of many historical and cultural cities (neighbourhoods, villages and towns), ancient buildings, sites and scenic spots has been destroyed, with tall buildings erected all over the place, affecting the overall beauty and elegant cultural atmosphere of ancient buildings.
30 May, 2022
Big Courtyard Small Hutong
From 1965 onwards, part of the inner city wall was demolished in the first phase of the project due to war preparations and the need to build underground works. After the reform and opening up, when the Second Ring Road was built, the entire wall was demolished, except for a few gate towers such as Zhengyang Gate, Qian Gate ArrowTower, Desheng Gate, Arrow Tower and Dongbianmen, which were retained.
30 May, 2022
Courtyard
After 1949, Beijing's traditional courtyards, royal residences and mansions left over from the Qing dynasty changed from private to public property. Courtyards for ordinary residential use were transformed into miscellaneous courtyards with multiple occupants and multiple households. 'History cannot be restored.'
Liu says 'Many cities around the world have grown up, we should not take the wrong path that others have taken, look at the traffic, industrial pollution, population etc. to Beijing, there are big problems. All the more reason why we should not demolish our heritage because of urbanisation.'
30 May, 2022
Liu Nianling, who is selling traditional Chinese snacks from her stall. Looking at the quadrangle she lives in and smiling.
Liu says that a city is a concrete and real record book of human culture, which represents the spirituality of a city and a country. A city records all kinds of changes and also carries historical and cultural monuments, and we cannot blindly renovate old cities, not only in relation to the important meanings they represent, but also in relation to the development of the times and the examination of all aspects of the environment. And what we have to do is not to destroy the historical and cultural heritage, to inherit and carry it forward, because these are the riches left to us by our old ancestors, and it is up to the state and the government to make the riches more meaningful. '
