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Nothing is sacred when it comes to progress
By Wu Jiayin |
July 21, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
VIRTUALLY anything today can be sacrificed to a chiseled skyline.
Despite pleas from architectural experts, an old building with historic and cultural value on the Bund may have to go.
Demolition of the century-old Shanghai Rowing Club was suspended on June 20 thanks to appeals from experts, notably Professor Ruan Yisan from Tongji University.
Ruan believes the club, together with the nearby former British Consulate, Union Church and Waibaidu Bridge, constitutes an important part of the original Bund area and thus needs to be preserved for its historic and cultural value. And the swimming pool inside the building was one of the earliest in China.
However, the real estate developer told Shanghai Daily recently that the new construction project would go ahead as planned.
Obviously, unless there is effective official intervention, there is little professors can do.
In fact, even if the building does survive, it may be quite incongruous against a background of modern construction that is planned around it.
Much of the club's interior had already been destroyed.
Maybe this fresh rescue effort cannot restore the club building to its original state, but the eagerness to destroy it must be understood in a national context.
In Beijing, some blocks of historic and cultural value in the Badaowan Hutong and the Beizongbu Hutong had also been laid to waste for new developments, according to Wenhui Daily last week.
Many of the buildings date from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) or earlier.
Although a couple of old residences of celebrities have survived following appeals from experts, those residences alone can hardly convey the style of the old blocks.
"Gone with the streets are many treasured memories," said Wang Yue, secretary general of Beijing Geographical Society. The memories of living residents about their neighborhood are as important as recollections about dead celebrities.
To prevent similar tragedies, landscaping expert Yu Kongjian urged maximum "discretion" in urban zoning.
"An important standard for evaluation should be how strong the inhabitants' sense of belonging to the building is," Yu said.
Despite pleas from architectural experts, an old building with historic and cultural value on the Bund may have to go.
Demolition of the century-old Shanghai Rowing Club was suspended on June 20 thanks to appeals from experts, notably Professor Ruan Yisan from Tongji University.
Ruan believes the club, together with the nearby former British Consulate, Union Church and Waibaidu Bridge, constitutes an important part of the original Bund area and thus needs to be preserved for its historic and cultural value. And the swimming pool inside the building was one of the earliest in China.
However, the real estate developer told Shanghai Daily recently that the new construction project would go ahead as planned.
Obviously, unless there is effective official intervention, there is little professors can do.
In fact, even if the building does survive, it may be quite incongruous against a background of modern construction that is planned around it.
Much of the club's interior had already been destroyed.
Maybe this fresh rescue effort cannot restore the club building to its original state, but the eagerness to destroy it must be understood in a national context.
In Beijing, some blocks of historic and cultural value in the Badaowan Hutong and the Beizongbu Hutong had also been laid to waste for new developments, according to Wenhui Daily last week.
Many of the buildings date from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) or earlier.
Although a couple of old residences of celebrities have survived following appeals from experts, those residences alone can hardly convey the style of the old blocks.
"Gone with the streets are many treasured memories," said Wang Yue, secretary general of Beijing Geographical Society. The memories of living residents about their neighborhood are as important as recollections about dead celebrities.
To prevent similar tragedies, landscaping expert Yu Kongjian urged maximum "discretion" in urban zoning.
"An important standard for evaluation should be how strong the inhabitants' sense of belonging to the building is," Yu said.
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