Download or read book Beijing Record written by Jun Wang and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2011 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2003, the Chinese Xinhua News Agency journalist Wang Jun published the bestseller Beijing Record, the result of ten years of research on the urban transformation of Beijing in the last fifty years. Home to more than 15 million people, this ancient capital city — not surprisingly — has a controversial, complicated history of planning and politics, development and demolition. The publication raises a number of unsettling questions: Why has valuable historical architecture such as city ramparts, gateways, old temples, memorial archways and the urban fabric of the hutongs (traditional alleyways) and siheyuan (courtyard houses) been visibly disappearing for decades? Why are so many houses being demolished at a time of economic growth? Is no one prepared to stand up for the preservation of the city? For his research, Wang went through innumerable archives, read diaries and collected an unprecedented quantity of data, accessing first-hand materials and unearthing photographs that clearly document the city’s relentless, unprecedented physical makeover. In addition, he conducted more than 50 in-person interviews with officials, planners, scholars and other experts. Wang’s publication presents a survey of the main developments and government-level (both central and municipal) decisions, devoting a lot of attention to the 1950s and 1960s, when Beijing experienced a critical wave of transformative events. Shortly after its publication by SDX joint Publishing Company House in October 2003, Beijing Record ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces.
Download or read book Beijing Record A Physical And Political History Of Planning Modern Beijing written by Jun Wang and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2011-01-03 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beijing Record, the result of ten years of research on the urban transformation of Beijing in the last fifty years, brings to an extended Western audience the inside story on the key decisions that led to Beijing's present urban fragmentation and its loss of memory and history in the form of bulldozing its architectural heritage. Wang's publication presents a survey of the main developments and government-level (both central and municipal) decisions, devoting a lot of attention to the 1950s and 1960s, when Beijing experienced a critical wave of transformative events.Shortly after its original Chinese bestseller edition was published by SDX joint Publishing Company House in October 2003, it ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces. The Chinese edition is in its 11th print run and was translated into Japanese in 2008. This newly-translated English version has the latest update on the author's findings in the area. As the only edition printed in full color with nearly 300 illustrations, the English version powerfully showcases the stunning architecture, culture, and history of China's Dynamic Capital, Beijing.Home to more than 15 million people, this ancient capital city — not surprisingly — has a controversial, complicated history of planning and politics, development and demolition. The publication raises a number of unsettling questions: Why have a valuable historical architectural heritage such as city ramparts, gateways, old temples, memorial archways and the urban fabric of hutongs (traditional alleyways) and siheyuan (courtyard houses) been visibly disappearing for decades? Why are so many houses being demolished at a time of economic growth? Is no one prepared to stand up for the preservation of the city?For his research, Wang went through innumerable archives, read diaries and collected an unprecedented quantity of data, accessing firsthand materials and unearthing photographs that clearly document the city's relentless, unprecedented physical makeover. In addition, he conducted more than 50 in-person interviews with officials, planners, scholars and other experts. Many illustrations are published here for the first time, compiled in the 1990s when archival public access was reformulated.
Download or read book Beijing written by Qian Guo and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive volume examines contemporary life and history in Beijing, covering such topics as culture, politics, economics, crime, security, the environment, and more. While it is not China's most populated city, Beijing serves an important role as the political and cultural capital of the country. This volume examines Beijing's long history, contemporary society, and current challenges the city faces as we move further into the 21st century. Geared toward high school readers, undergraduates, and general readers interested in learning about Beijing, this volume consists of 12 narrative chapters focused on geography, history, and culture. Coverage includes location, people, history, politics, economy, environment and sustainability, local crime and violence, security issues, natural hazards and emergency management, culture and lifestyle, popular culture, and the future. "Life in the City" sidebars feature interviews and memories transcribed by people who are from, lived in, or traveled through Beijing, while other sidebars offer cultural fun facts and travel tips. This volume is the perfect read for anyone looking to get a better idea of what life is like in Beijing and how its culture has arrived at this point.
Download or read book The Making and Selling of Post Mao Beijing written by Anne-Marie Broudehoux and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the changing life of the city and its inhabitants during the final decades of the twentieth century and examines the complex forces at play in the search for modernity. The author presents us with four case studies of how the city is marketing and selling itself (including its refurbishment for the 2008 Olympic bid) and concludes that Beijing's urban image construction may provide an avenue for opposition groups to challenge the hegemony of those in power.
Download or read book The Habitable City in China written by Toby Lincoln and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-21 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a new perspective on Chinese urban history by exploring cities as habitable spaces. China, the world’s most populous nation, is now its newest urban society, and the pace of this unprecedented historical transformation has increased in recent decades. The contributors to this book conceptualise cities as first providing the necessities of life, and then becoming places in which the quality of life can be improved. They focus on how cities have been made secure during times of instability, how their inhabitants have consumed everything from the simplest of foods to the most expensive luxuries, and how they have been planned as ideal spaces. Drawing examples from across the country, this book offers comparisons between different cities, highlights continuities across time and space—and in doing so may provide solutions to some of the problems that continue to affect Chinese cities today.
Download or read book Chinese Spatial Strategies written by Jianfei Zhu and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do the Chinese design a space? What are the similarities and differences between spaces designed for palaces and cities? How were the extension of the Great Wall, the reopening of the Grand Canal and the building of Beijing interrelated? By closely examining the buildings of Imperial Beijing (1420-1911) this book seeks to answer these questions by exploring whether there is a generic approach to spatial disposition in the Chinese tradition. Chinese Spatial Strategiesconsiders spatial design on many levels and in different aspects including: *The geo-political design of a map of Asia *The layout of the city as a representation of imperial ideology *The city as a social realm of interrelations between the central authority and local urban society *The Forbidden City as an apparatus of power *A comparison between European visual compositions and the aesthetic composition of Beijing. Drawing upon recent work in social theory, the author provides a spatial and political analysis of the Forbidden City and a realistic account of Imperial Beijing. This book challenges the convention of formal description of Chinese cities and will appeal to all those with an interest in Chinese buildings and architecture.
Download or read book Beijing written by Victor F. S. Sit and published by *Belhaven Press. This book was released on 1995-07-04 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This World Cities Series volume is a major work on the nature of the Chinese city and the traditional concept of Chinese city planning. It uses Beijing as the case study, and its theme is how the traditional Chinese world view has influenced the function and layout of the traditional Chinese city and in particular, the capital city. The influence of Communist planning since 1949 is also traced and discussed to show how socialist principles have come to overlay and modify ancient structure. Further chapters cover city planning, housing, urban transport, urban environment, social areas, and economic and non-economic functions of the city. Beijing provides an historical perspective of over 5000 years in its first three chapters, but the remainder focuses is on the present-day role, layout and problems of one of the world?s greatest and most complex historic cities and the capital of the most populous nation. This book will be essential reading for planners, historians, geographers and Sinologists as well as providing ?background? both for tourists and armchair travellers.
Download or read book The City of Beijing written by Jun Wang and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beijing Record, the result of ten years of research on the urban transformation of Beijing in the last fifty years, brings to an extended Western audience the inside story on the key decisions that led to Beijing's present urban fragmentation and its loss of memory and history in the form of bulldozing its architectural heritage. Wang's publication presents a survey of the main developments and government-level (both central and municipal) decisions, devoting a lot of attention to the 1950s and 1960s, when Beijing experienced a critical wave of transformative events. Shortly after its original Chinese bestseller edition was published by SDX joint Publishing Company House in October 2003, it ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces. The Chinese edition is in its 11th print run and was translated into Japanese in 2008. This newly-translated English version has the latest update on the author's findings in the area. As the only edition printed in full color with nearly 300 illustrations, the English version powerfully showcases the stunning architecture, culture, and history of China's Dynamic Capital, Beijing. Home to more than 15 million people, this ancient capital city - not surprisingly - has a controversial, complicated history of planning and politics, development and demolition. The publication raises a number of unsettling questions: Why have a valuable historical architectural heritage such as city ramparts, gateways, old temples, memorial archways and the urban fabric of hutongs (traditional alleyways) and siheyuan (courtyard houses) been visibly disappearing for decades? Why are so many houses being demolished at a time of economic growth? Is no one prepared to stand up for the preservation of the city? For his research, Wang went through innumerable archives, read diaries and collected an unprecedented quantity of data, accessing firsthand materials and unearthing photographs that clearly document the city's relentless, unprecedented physical makeover. In addition, he conducted more than 50 in-person interviews with officials, planners, scholars and other experts. Many illustrations are published here for the first time, compiled in the 1990s when archival public access was reformulated.
Download or read book The Evolution of Beijing s Central Axis written by James McAndrew Jones and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Brief Introduction to Protection and Modern Development of the Ancient Historical City of Beijing written by Beijing. Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Modernism in Late Mao China written by Ke Song and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-04-28 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the architectural history of China in the Mao era (1949–1976), focusing on the rise of modernism in the last seven years of the Cultural Revolution from 1969 to 1976. It highlights the new architecture of this period, exemplified by three clusters of buildings for foreign affairs, namely buildings for foreign diplomacy in Beijing, buildings for foreign trade in Guangzhou and China’s foreign aid projects overseas. The emergence of new architecture in the early 1970s is closely associated with China’s political and diplomatic shift of the time, from a radical emphasis on ideological struggle to a dynamic balance between leftist ideology and pragmatic concerns. In this context, China’s relations with the West quickly improved, culminating with American president Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. The increasing foreign affairs brought new opportunities to Chinese architects who referenced both Western modernism and Chinese architectural traditions to create a new version of Chinese modernism. The book brings dimensions of form, politics and knowledge to the analysis of architecture, to construct an understanding of architectural design as an aesthetic, political and intellectual practice. Modernism in Late-Mao China will be an enriching and useful reference for students and scholars who are interested in the global architectural history of the twentieth century, especially Cold War modernism.
Download or read book Republican Beijing written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Old Beijing has become a subject of growing fascination in contemporary China since the 1980s. While physical remnants from the past are being bulldozed every day to make space for glass-walled skyscrapers and towering apartment buildings, nostalgia for the old city is booming.
Download or read book Introduction to the Urban History of China written by Chonglan Fu and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores China’s urban development, examining the history and culture of Chinese cities and providing a cultural background to the rapid urban development of contemporary China. It offers a new perspective on Chinese urban history, showcasing the traditional culture which underpins the emergence of the modern city and highlighting how traditional Chinese philosophical thought is reflected in the culture of urban planning and architecture in China, notably examining such issues as ‘the integration of man and nature’, yin and yang, bagua, and the Wu Xing.
Download or read book Housing Urban Renewal and Socio Spatial Integration written by Xiaoxi Hui and published by TU Delft. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 799 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This issue of A+BE addresses two critical urban issues China faces today: housing and urban renewal. In the recent two decades, the Chinese urban housing stock underwent a significant, if not extreme, transformation. From 1949 to 1998, the urban housing stock in China largely depended on the public sector, and a large amount of public housing areas were developed under the socialistic public housing system in Beijing and other Chinese cities. Yet in 1998, a radical housing reform stopped this housing system. Thus, most of the public housing stock was privatized and the urban housing provision was conferred to the market. The radical housing privatization and marketization did not really resolve but intensified the housing problem. Along with the high-speed urbanization, the alienated, capitalized and speculative housing stock caused a series of social and spatial problems. The Chinese government therefore attempted to reestablish the social housing system in 2007. However, the unbalanced structure of the Chinese urban housing stock has not been considerably optimized and the housing problem is still one of the most critical challenges in China.
Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Chinese Architecture written by Jianfei Zhu and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 1016 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook, representing the collaboration of 40 scholars, provides a multi-faceted exploration of roughly 6,000 years of Chinese architecture, from ancient times to the present. This volume combines a broad-spectrum approach with a thematic framework for investigating Chinese architecture, integrating previously fragmented topics and combining the scholarship of all major periods of Chinese history. By organizing its approach into five parts, this handbook: Traces the practices and traditions of ancient China from imperial authority to folk culture Unveils a rich picture of early modern and republican China, revealing that modernization was already beginning to emerge Describes the social, intellectual, ideological, and formal enterprises of socialist architecture Frames a window on a complex and changing contemporary China by focusing on autonomy, state practices, and geopolitics of design, ultimately identifying its still evolving position on the world stage Examines the existing cultural and political theories to highlight potential avenues for future transformations in Chinese architecture that also retain Chinese identity Providing a pioneering combination of ancient and modern Chinese architecture in one coherent study, this book is a must-read for scholars, students, and educators of Chinese architecture, architectural history and theory, and the architecture of Asia.
Download or read book Mass Housing written by Miles Glendinning and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 2021 (The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain) "It will become the standard work on the subject." Literary Review This major work provides the first comprehensive history of one of modernism's most defining and controversial architectural legacies: the 20th-century drive to provide 'homes for the people'. Vast programmes of mass housing – high-rise, low-rise, state-funded, and built in the modernist style – became a truly global phenomenon, leaving a legacy which has suffered waves of disillusionment in the West but which is now seeing a dramatic, 21st-century renaissance in the booming, crowded cities of East Asia. Providing a global approach to the history of Modernist mass-housing production, this authoritative study combines architectural history with the broader social, political, cultural aspects of mass housing – particularly the 'mass' politics of power and state-building throughout the 20th century. Exploring the relationship between built form, ideology, and political intervention, it shows how mass housing not only reflected the transnational ideals of the Modernist project, but also became a central legitimizing pillar of nation-states worldwide. In a compelling narrative which likens the spread of mass housing to a 'Hundred Years War' of successive campaigns and retreats, it traces the history around the globe from Europe via the USA, Soviet Union and a network of international outposts, to its ultimate, optimistic resurgence in China and the East – where it asks: Are we facing a new dawn for mass housing, or another 'great housing failure' in the making?
Download or read book Remaking China s Great Cities written by Samuel Y. Liang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-07-25 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China’s rapid urbanization has restructured the great socialist cities Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou into mega cities that embrace global capitalism. This book focuses on the urban transformations of these three cities: Beijing is the nation’s political and cultural capital; Shanghai is the economic and financial powerhouse; and Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province and the regional center of south China. All are historical cities with rich imperial, colonial, and regional heritages, and all have been drastically transformed in the last six decades. This book examines the cities’ continuous urban legacies since 1949 in relation to state governance, economic reforms, and cultural production. By adopting local historical perspectives, it offers more nuanced accounts of the current urban change than the modernization/globalization paradigm and conceptualizes the change in the context of the cities’ socialist, colonial, and imperial legacies. Specifically, Samuel Y. Liang offers an overview of the urban planning and territorial expansion of the great cities since 1949; explores the production and consumption of urban housing, its spatial forms, media representations, and socio-political implications; and examines the state-led redevelopment of old urban cores and residential neighborhoods, and the urban conservation movement. Remaking China’s Great Cities will be of great interest to students and scholars working across a range of fields including Chinese studies, Chinese culture and society, urban studies and architecture.
