UID5538
帖子
阅读权限80
在线时间 小时
精华
威望
日志
相册
注册时间2006-2-27
最后登录1970-1-1
|
The following is a hutong discussion promoted by me on a Chinese history oriented forum:
Me:
As Beijing has been the capital of China for more than 800 years, its1 V, E4 w- T, Y" p
architecture style is supreme throughout China. Please do not consider
* Z% K' y3 c( R% ~2 eBeijing as just an "Imperial City". It in fact, is a more "civilian"- S! Q5 v5 o5 W N3 g
city. Hutong or alley way is the kernel of Beijing's culture.
; ]! N, u) }: h$ O/ q5 T4 LAccording to some books, there were 1,200 hutongs in Yuan Dynasty,
+ T+ o2 S$ [ w& T3,600 hutongs in Ming Dynasty, and over 6,000 hutongs at the end of
3 b5 N+ e* E7 g8 lManchu Qing Dynasty. Most of the hutongs are well preserved until 1999.
Within7 U. ~! F/ o1 b$ M/ d
hutongs, the citizens maintain a good neighborhood relationship among, `( z$ U* v# c3 v
each other. Senior citizens play Chinese chess or listen to Peking Opera
' h% ^) G8 \4 W3 L" |8 o5 s4 _2 yand Pingju. Children play outside. The atmosphere in hutong is
3 h% M4 L+ h* U$ Eharmonious. The architectural styles of hutong are diverse, but all are
3 c4 R! a3 c9 L- P# C- q. rdescended from traditional Chinese culture. Many great events and" W& J9 c8 a+ }. |5 l" m8 r
forms of culture emerged in hutong.
I
Y1 U7 a- Q7 ewas born in Beijing hutong. My childhood leaves me a great
- I$ ?/ x8 d, D( ] n$ qimpression. In 1990, the hutong where my home stood was demolished,
2 r* I1 x# p' c0 pand we have to move into residential skyscrapers. You know, this hutong! O- q8 V n9 f: l
has a history of more than 400 years!
Since 1999, the demolishment& a5 n# z4 y3 o2 {0 `0 G2 o6 M6 e
of hutong has been a common thing in Beijing. There has been said that
- j4 w+ O3 d6 n' L+ eno hutongs will stand after 2008. Many people from outside Beijing are
" @( K3 Y% u6 n4 S" Wonly enthusiastic in "enjoying" skyscrapers, they consider hutong as a
) |5 }2 R" G+ e8 c9 Z& c" n6 Esort of under modernized structure. They, along with the government! z6 L4 J+ r; d, T, G, S
want to demolish them and replace them with meaningless skyscrapers. In 2004, more than 10,000 households in hutongs were forced to move& L4 w9 u3 K' t- y4 j1 f0 H
to the suburbs. The official reason of "Hutong Demolish Movement" is
* Z/ o! o. x3 Y: {"modernization", or "preparing for the Olympic Games", but in fact,) F+ b0 Z5 E$ S
this movement has nothing to do with the modernization and Olympics: citizens in hutong are
" K ?. [5 \0 Astill living in compact apartment cells, Olympic Games will still be held in Beijing if four-combinations still stand.
Kimchee:
I think it's ashame how historical sights are destroyed due to
7 V. w% l) k' h1 V"progress." But, it unfortunately happens all over the world to make& s0 _# ~9 K" n) \/ \1 L! w
money for big business... including the very town I live in. There was$ o3 r) c' N8 S s. L1 C
a beautiful Methodist Church that was demolished to make way for a
. b5 Z# O4 P* \1 G' I- j$ V2 oparking lot... it was built in the early 1700's. The graveyard across
$ j' S+ Q' }: v$ O1 t+ [the street is still there, but I thought it was a crime to do this.
Ashura:
While I do agree and support the perservation of properties of cultural
- i" X t }+ M1 H( M, Y, Ximportance , I also support that some hutongs have to be torn down for$ J% x% Z3 L4 s: E* a3 a0 X: H+ c
development.
Hutongs3 y3 ?$ M3 c4 d' A# ^
in the old days were residential area where people actually lived
( ^0 m- _; Y0 Z9 S- Sthere. The same cannot be said for today because the living conditions& K; t7 U$ y* a# N4 c8 c
in hutongs are not up to standard. The houses within the hutongs do not! }- k/ ?, t4 l: z- }
have plumbing and electricity, and if you want to install that, you
# b4 W! Y+ @* o4 ^* Gwill have to pay a high cost in building a system just for the hutongs.4 ^( q6 e, D& t9 \: T8 `: s
Furthermore, the style of the houses, four combination, is out of date$ F; `9 X$ r7 h
to support the mobile population in modern day Beijing. The houses used3 X0 n) i( d/ t# Q
to hold a whole family within them, while modern apartments and houses( X; \; @0 i; v' O h8 W3 |( }
support a nucleus family. That said, the hutongs are economically- p# B9 X* z ^5 z# H. u+ I3 D
unfeasible for ordinary people. I for one, do not see the reason to! }9 E9 q9 I: c' n' f5 g
live in a hutong with the traditional houses. Losing its main purpose,
/ N) V2 u: q$ J# F0 k& Xhutong is only a tourist attraction.
The best way to find the
. F, Z5 J9 ?4 L+ dbalance between development and cultural perservation is to confine the5 [( ]$ N+ _! w7 E5 y1 n; X
project into a district. Within this district, the hutongs should be
( W6 d* ]5 E8 Z. C( v( b' L/ Erenovated to show the old face of Beijing. They should build a Hutong
4 j( j3 u4 D2 I5 k( H2 i, e( b$ yMuseum and allow people to actually walk into the houses to see how V9 T- E+ z) i
people lived in them. The hutongs outside of the district should be
( J* N2 U, T8 j) Ftorn down or transformed into something else.
TwinkieDP:
I'm sorry that your cherished0 P/ g! k$ t, A- [( N- V
memories of Old Beijing is being destroyed in the Path of "progress".
9 u$ R* } \+ |; ONothing against preservation of Hutongs, but I think my feelings are
, \' e4 E+ p) b! }: R) T4 U5 Baligned with Ashura's. When people outside of China (especially9 k, y2 y' P. h
non-Chinese) think about the Cultural treasures of Beijing, the image' l- a6 Q3 Z" x8 s9 T5 a2 M
of the Hutongs is hardly brought up. I've seen pictures of these
' o& G1 }) Y8 J9 hHutongs, and I'm sure these peaceful neighborhoods mean a lot to those+ \; o# O- ^7 s2 M( b
people who have lived their for generations, but to the outsider they
2 a4 J! t _# Z# U6 N1 kmay appear to be outdated and substandard living quarters. I agree some
) q0 q# S6 ]4 T" b) P8 N `of the cultural aspects showing how ordinary people lived before
# i# H. Y+ g% a7 X. F( v) X"modernization" should be preserved, but living standards for all, I0 g8 @5 d. ~2 t/ \
people needs to continually improve. Am I saying that high-rise
. H: I9 R# z) c; ^& E8 Eapartments are the way to go? No.
9 _) u7 v# x' t+ g% S2 Q* J3 T4 \
3 I$ z9 Z! p* M+ K+ m( M
, \' ]+ K$ o, K
Howard Fu:
I have great sympathy for you and Beijing's old Hutongs. But the9 r8 U0 c: _# U0 C0 `5 f
situation is sad. There are big economy interest behind this9 j; y7 ]; P i7 ?7 j7 p5 T1 E
'progress'. Real estate businessmen and government officials would make$ T6 U' a7 R4 Z" f/ j
no money if they leave all the hutongs there. And they are moving so
" ~- Q+ o: h# [2 O3 i( Bfast, there will be no hutong left after 2008 before any significant
5 u6 H% k, p$ b0 ~6 a* R* b* `resistant opinion formed. This 'progress' is unlikely to stop unless
# R! a) M% Q' t% ~7 R) FBeijing's estate market have a sudden dive before 2008 which is/ p7 u# S* C r8 I# z) g5 f1 f
unlikely to happen too. Sad!
|
|