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Bulldozers raze ancient relics for progress' sake
By Wang Yong |
July 14, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BEHIND every major blow to cultural relics lurks a power unaccountable to the people and history.
Public opinion is now grilling the government of Zhenjiang, a historic city on both the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, for having raced against time in a deliberate wipeout of newly discovered cultural relics that obstructed a real estate project.
Certainly the Zhenjiang government was to blame for the destruction of most of 13 ancient granaries discovered last year, but focusing on the sad story in this one city would divert public attention from a bigger issue: a skewed power structure that allows officials - in the official/developer nexus - to get way with humiliating history.
Zhenjiang was not the first, nor will it be the last city to bulldoze its own cultural relics in the name of modernization and urbanization. In the 1950s and 1960s, in a rush to modernize, Beijing destroyed most of its grand, ancient walls that had survived numerous wars.
Shanghai has not much history to destroy, but of late it has been busy placing thin faux brick facade on fine old brickwork and pouring cement over small roadways where old paving bricks had allowed grass to grow and water to penetrate the soil. These moves, though not outright atrocities, certainly do not preserve old Shanghai, nor are they in keeping with low-carbon values.
All was done in the name of progress and newness, while no one stepped forward with a convincing argument that modern is better or urban is lower carbon.
In Zhenjiang's case, archeologists discovered 13 granaries last August, some of which could date back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Research is underway to find out more about their history.
It so happened that those granaries were directly beneath a massive real estate project undertaken by a local state-owned developer.
Zhu Ruihong, president of the development company, is concurrently a senior official in charge of the city's urban construction. A perfect nexus of power and business.
Despite advice and even protests from archeologists, Zhu's company lost no time in eradicating these newfound relics before their value could be ascertained. Haste made sense, in a sense, because once identified as rare relics, any damage to them - intentional or otherwise - would be punishable as a criminal offense.
On July 11, the Zhenjiang government decided to suspend the real estate project. But on the very same day, rumbling bulldozers were still doing their damage, People's Daily reported on Monday.
In an interview with CCTV at the construction site on July 9, Lin Liugen said bulldozers had already obliterated most of the granaries and a key ancient river course. Lin is head of the archeology department of Nanjing Museum, who helped discover the relics.
He sighed: "The real estate developer was not to be crossed. The development represented a new Zhenjiang. The developer acted as if archeological discoveries had hindered the city's pace of modernization."
Zhenjiang has willfully wiped out artifacts clearly of great significance before scientists could tell us more about them.
Xi'an, another historic city, proposed in April to modernize its ancient city walls and make them more attractive with neon lights.
In each case, the driving force was worship of things modern and a dismissal of things that survived the ages. In both cases, there was an intricate interaction between power and business.
Duan Xiannian, vice mayor of Xi'an who masterminded the controversial "modernization" program, was formerly a real estate tycoon.
From the fall of Beijing's city walls to the "modernization" of Xi'an's and to the eradication of Zhenjiang's granaries, we see power exercised without accountability to and respect for history.
Forget Zhenjiang, forget its granaries, and forget the walls.
Public opinion is now grilling the government of Zhenjiang, a historic city on both the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, for having raced against time in a deliberate wipeout of newly discovered cultural relics that obstructed a real estate project.
Certainly the Zhenjiang government was to blame for the destruction of most of 13 ancient granaries discovered last year, but focusing on the sad story in this one city would divert public attention from a bigger issue: a skewed power structure that allows officials - in the official/developer nexus - to get way with humiliating history.
Zhenjiang was not the first, nor will it be the last city to bulldoze its own cultural relics in the name of modernization and urbanization. In the 1950s and 1960s, in a rush to modernize, Beijing destroyed most of its grand, ancient walls that had survived numerous wars.
Shanghai has not much history to destroy, but of late it has been busy placing thin faux brick facade on fine old brickwork and pouring cement over small roadways where old paving bricks had allowed grass to grow and water to penetrate the soil. These moves, though not outright atrocities, certainly do not preserve old Shanghai, nor are they in keeping with low-carbon values.
All was done in the name of progress and newness, while no one stepped forward with a convincing argument that modern is better or urban is lower carbon.
In Zhenjiang's case, archeologists discovered 13 granaries last August, some of which could date back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Research is underway to find out more about their history.
It so happened that those granaries were directly beneath a massive real estate project undertaken by a local state-owned developer.
Zhu Ruihong, president of the development company, is concurrently a senior official in charge of the city's urban construction. A perfect nexus of power and business.
Despite advice and even protests from archeologists, Zhu's company lost no time in eradicating these newfound relics before their value could be ascertained. Haste made sense, in a sense, because once identified as rare relics, any damage to them - intentional or otherwise - would be punishable as a criminal offense.
On July 11, the Zhenjiang government decided to suspend the real estate project. But on the very same day, rumbling bulldozers were still doing their damage, People's Daily reported on Monday.
In an interview with CCTV at the construction site on July 9, Lin Liugen said bulldozers had already obliterated most of the granaries and a key ancient river course. Lin is head of the archeology department of Nanjing Museum, who helped discover the relics.
He sighed: "The real estate developer was not to be crossed. The development represented a new Zhenjiang. The developer acted as if archeological discoveries had hindered the city's pace of modernization."
Zhenjiang has willfully wiped out artifacts clearly of great significance before scientists could tell us more about them.
Xi'an, another historic city, proposed in April to modernize its ancient city walls and make them more attractive with neon lights.
In each case, the driving force was worship of things modern and a dismissal of things that survived the ages. In both cases, there was an intricate interaction between power and business.
Duan Xiannian, vice mayor of Xi'an who masterminded the controversial "modernization" program, was formerly a real estate tycoon.
From the fall of Beijing's city walls to the "modernization" of Xi'an's and to the eradication of Zhenjiang's granaries, we see power exercised without accountability to and respect for history.
Forget Zhenjiang, forget its granaries, and forget the walls.
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