Beijing Newspeak

First the “Great Leap Forward”, then the “Cultural Revolution”, now the “Thousand Cities, One Face Policy”. Ok, maybe not as catchy but I’m not going to take Mao on at the soundbite game. At least it beats “One World, One Dream”.

It was a pleasure to see vice-minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing letting off some steam at a recent urban culture and city planning conference. His speech, well reported by China Daily, lambasted local officials for their “senseless actions” that have “devastated” historical sites and cultural relics in the name of renovation. But, that was just a prelude to his disdain. In an act of PR genius, he compared the current situation of urban redevelopment and the resulting loss of cultural heritage to the two most disasterous periods of modern Chinese history.

The country’s historical and cultural heritage is facing a third round of havoc since New China was founded in 1949, he noted.

The first two occurred during the “Great Leap Forward” movement in the late 1950s, and the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), when huge numbers of relics and sites of historical value were demolished, he added.

Some may argue that the need for concrete government policies is far greater than strong words with which to impress the world. As a humble polishing slave I have only ever met the man in print but he does seem one of the more progressive officials in China. Admittedly, he is addressing issues that, for the most part, have been allowed to be subject to open criticism for a few years, during which the situation has been slow to improve. But there is a certain genuineness to his language, far removed from the set phrase repertoire of the Politburo Standing Committee.

“Some local officials seem to be altering the appearance of cities with the determination of ‘moving the mountain and altering the water course’… They are totally unaware of the value of cultural heritage.”

Qiu also slammed the “blind pursuit of large, new and exotic” buildings by some local governments.

“This is leading to a poor sight - many cities have a similar construction style. It is like a thousand cities having the same appearance,” he said.

This is by no means the first time he has banged the drum. Back in November, 2003, China Daily reported:

Vice-minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing yesterday said important villages and towns of historical and cultural value are being threatened by urban sprawl .

“Generally, protection work nationwide has stagnated as urban expansion and migration increasingly threaten national treasures inherited from our ancestors,” Qiu told China Daily.

… “It is a shame some local officials just focus their energy on economic development and lack heritage protection awareness,” said Qiu.

He has sneered at image-obsessed local governments. Although he used to be mayor of Hangzhou, which by its own definition (international tourism city), is all about image. At least there is a reason for new public squares in Hangzhou - people actually go there. This is from AFP, via the Tapei Times, in 2004:

Many of China’s 660 cities have projects — such as business development parks or large squares — which serve no purpose other than boosting the image of the city and its officials, said Qiu Baoxing, vice minister of construction.

“A large number of so-called `image projects’ or `achievement projects’ that waste manpower and money have been undertaken only to project the image of a city or the achievement of city officials,” Qiu told reporters.

 He also appreciates bikes (probably not as much as Audis when it comes to personal travel preferences). This is from the Daily Telegraph last year:

“Some Chinese cities are cutting back on bicycle lanes to make more room for cars, just as some western cities are beginning to build more of them,” the unusually environment-conscious vice-minister of construction, Qiu Baoxing, told a planning conference yesterday.

While I’m not going to sell all my material possessions and become Qiu’s loyal disciple, I do regard his latest comments as highly important in the long-run. Unfortunately, the limits of Qiu’s sphere of influence are cruelly evident if he pops out of the Great Hall of the People on his lunch break and walks south for five minutes. If I can just go back to the redevelopment of Qianmen …

I think what has happened in Qianmen was perfectly summed up by a line from Tong Mingkang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, at the same conference as Qiu Baoxing (also reported by China Daily):

“It is like tearing up an invaluable painting and replacing it with a cheap print.”

And why has the Beijing government done it? “They are totally unaware of the value of cultural heritage,” was Qiu’s words. Which brings it all back to the Cultural Revolution. When I was researching a story on the redevelopment of Qianmen, I spoke to Professor Yu Kongjian, the head of Turenscape, an urban design and landscape architecture institute affiliated to Peking University. He believed money was of course a major factor but it went deeper than that.

“It is a question of what you value. The Beijing government believes the old parts of the city are poor, cranky, unkempt. They want to build new things because they believe it will make the city look more beautiful. The slogan is New Beijing, New Olympics. They want to build a monument so they can say it is beautiful. But Qianmen is a living community and is becoming unliveable.

“Technically we can solve the issue, but it is not a technical problem. It is a political issue, a social one. The Cultural Revolution has a lot to do with it. A whole generation has not been educated in how to value. We haven’t learnt from the experiences and mistakes of the West. We haven’t had time. We wasted ten years during the Cultural Revolution, we didn’t cultivate a civilised sense of what a city should be.

“The Chinese system is one of the most powerful systems in the world in terms of being able to destroy a city overnight. But this kind of system also has a great power to protect.”

What a difference an ounce of media dissension makes. A fortnight ago, news came of the proposed demolition of Dongsi Ba Tiao, a hutong north east of the Forbidden City and supposedly situated in one of Beijing’s 25 protected areas. The Chinese media was quick to rip into the decision with the Beijing News leading the charge and the China Daily backing it up in English.

Here is an extract (in translation) from an editorial by the Beijing News, carried by China Daily and People’s Daily:

Now a resident has applied for an administrative review, asking to cancel the relocation permit. She said that the residents can renovate the buildings themselves without damaging the original state of the houses and there is no need to sell the houses to land developers.

Previously another resident said that the area of cultural and historical significance should not be demolished randomly, and “Once the government promises not to demolish the area, all residents will renovate their houses to the best condition.”

For a rather long time, the nation’s city renovations have followed a government-and-developer mode. But these residents’ words inspire us to question why renovation of the old city proper should only be conducted by land developers and why renovations just mean demolishing old buildings and constructing new ones.

Residents of the old city proper love their old homes. If they are capable and willing to do so, why not give them the right to renovate?

The traditional government-and-developer mode of renovation has actually left too many regrets by demolishing ancient siheyuan and hutong, sometimes replacing them with coarse replicas.

This post from Jeremiah at Jottings from the Granite Studio sums up the Dongsi Ba Tiao situation and references an excellent article on the subject from the Christian Science Monitor.

On Sunday, the fruits of the Beijing News’ labours were translated into English by Xinhua.

The controversial demolition of houses at Dongsi Batiao, an ancient alley of courtyard homes in downtown Beijing has been suspended, an official with Dongcheng District government has confirmed.

Suspending demolition, however, doesn’t mean the redevelopment project has been terminated, the official said.

The official said the demolition office will continue negotiating with local residents over the amount of compensation they will receive.

By Saturday, only the No. 9 courtyard in the hutong or alley had been bulldozed and fewer than 10 of the 80 families in the neighborhood had moved.

It is almost certain the demolition will go ahead at some point in the future. However, media pressure has at least secured residents a better deal in terms of compensation. Many of them are welcoming the chance to move to a new apartment with modern amenities but they are going to need more than 8,000 yuan per square metre (the initial offer) in compensation to avoid having to resettle in Inner Mongolia as one resident reportedly said.

Compare the fate of residents in Dongsi Ba Tiao to those who have been relocated from Qianmen. I spent a fair bit of time following the redevelopment of Qianmen a few months ago and every street corner conversation would bring to light another story of deception and often brutality. Stories that are impossible to verify but which are spat out by the narrator to knowing nods and shakes of heads from residents who remain in the area. Stories like this have been told for the last year and a half, when the eviction notices were first pasted on hutong walls.

The one about the old man who refused to leave his house. Dragged out of bed and beaten to death by thugs employed by the local demolition office. Another about a group of old men and women shivering in their underwear in the back of a truck as a bulldozer flattened their living rooms. One more about people hired by the demolition office tapping relentlessly on people’s windows in the middle of night so they could not sleep and would agree to move out.

I met a woman whose neighbours had been deceived into signing a contract of no worth. They had been shown a group of houses nearby and told that they could move the following week. They were delighted. They packed up their things and cut off their electricity. On the eve of their departure they were told the apartments were reserved for government officials. Sorry. They would be shown to their new homes outside the fifth ring road.

The difference with Qianmen is that there was a reporting blackout on the relocation of its residents due to its status as a ”prestige project” for the Olympics. This is a conversation my colleague and friend had with the director of the news centre under the Chongwen District Publicity Department.

“The media are not allowed to report on the specifics of the demolition of Qianmen or the future plans for the area. Because it is a pilot project and because it is so important, Liu Qi (Beijing’s top official) said that a press conference would only be called when the project was finished.”

“When will the project will be finished?”

“There is no timetable yet.”

“I just wanted to get an idea of what the area would look like.”

“You will have to ask the communications department of the city planning committee.”

“But I spoke to him and he said I should speak to you.”

“Ha ha, they know the news can’t be released, they are just kicking the ball back to me.”

“The foreign media has been critical of the project. Do you not think it would be beneficial to release some information?”

“I totally agree with you. If I was the boss. I would tell you something but our work is governed by the municipal level and the mayor has told all departments to hold the news. I was born in Beijing. People like old Beijing. My name, Wei Hua, means “guard China” as in guard China’s traditional culture. I feel disappointed but I can’t say anymore. I am not allowed to.”

An absence of media coverage has deprived some Qianmen residents of their basic rights. Those that needed to be hurriedly relocated to make way for the new roads that now link Tiananmen with the Temple of Heaven were not given the option of negotiation and many received 8,000 yuan per square metre. Some claim they received nothing at all. Other residents who lived in areas which did not need to be razed immediately were more fortunate, managing to hold firm to secure 15,000 yuan, sometimes 20,000 yuan, per square metre.

The media restrictions have also resulted in absolutely no public debate over the future appearance of Qianmen. Due to the media uproar, the Dongsi Ba Tiao case may be different, as the CS Monitor reports, although the property developer sounds less than convincing.

The property developer had announced that it plans to build a European-style residential and commercial complex on the site. That would violate laws that limit construction in controlled “buffer zones” near preservation areas.

In an interview this week, Bai Hua, vice president of the Zhong Bao Jia Ye development company, said his firm’s design had changed. It now includes nine replica courtyard houses along the lane, backed by two six-story buildings containing apartments and offices “in Chinese traditional style … colors and materials,” he claimed.

Those plans appear to be within the law, conservation experts say. But Mr. Bai was unable to provide architects’ drawings or an artist’s impression of the scheme, saying his company “is still adjusting the design.”

Back to Qianmen. China Daily has issued editorials in the past criticising the destruction of old Beijing so it must have been galling for many staff members to read this story in their own newspaper about the future plans for Qianmen which were announced a few weeks ago.

Trolley buses are to return to Beijing after an absence of more than 50 years when they become the only vehicles allowed on a new-look Qianmen Street later this year.

A major project to renovate and revitalise the area along the famous street, which is situated close to Tian’anmen Square, began on Wednesday.

Once the work is completed, visitors will be able to tour the area for free on the trolley buses, whose reintroduction will help recreate images of Qianmen Street in its heyday at the end of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Niu Qingshan, head of the Chongwen District, said the project, which was inspired by file photos of the street taken in 1957, will turn the area into a “pedestrian mall” by restoring the area’s traditional old-world architecture and style.

“Preserving the historic appearance and improving living conditions for residents are the main aims of the renovation project,” Niu said.

Qianmen Street has been a commercial centre for centuries, boasting a wide range of shops selling everything from traditional medicines to fine silks, as well as tea houses and snack bars like Duyichu, which is famous for its shaomai (stuffed steamed buns).

Li Xiao-guang, Party sectary of Chongwen District, said the scheme will involve the widening of the original narrow road and the restoration of the old shops to their former glory.

Restoration on the “Yueshengzhai” shop, which has been selling pickled beef and mutton for more than 230 years, is nearly complete, Li said.

“More than 80 traditional shops will be renovated on their original sites according to old photos,” Li said, “We will spare no effort to restore the grandeur to Qianmen Street.”

As well as restoring the street’s shops, its landmark structures, including the Zhengyangmen Bridge, Guannghe “Zha Building” and Wupai Building will also be renovated. And as a finishing touch, the 845-m-long street will be paved with green and white marble.

Once completed, Qianmen Street will become Beijing’s second pedestrian-only thoroughfare after Wangfujing in the city’s downtown shopping district.

Wang Shijie, an expert on ancient architecture, said: “Once renovated it is hoped Qianmen Street, with its combination of Eastern and Western cultural styles, will become a hot spot for tourists from both home and abroad.”

In addition to the structural improvements, the electricity, gas and water supply networks are to be upgraded, and a new underground car park with 1,500 spaces will be built.

Qianmen Street was known as a prosperous commercial strip as early as the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), but its peak was in the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when it was home to a host of popular theaters and teahouses.

The redevelopment of the ancient street is part of Beijing’s efforts to refurbish its old city areas ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Not a balanced word. But credit to China Daily - it couldn’t resist a cloaked dig at the Qianmen project in their editorial entitled “Save our hutong” which lamented the fate of Dongsi Ba Tiao.

Of course developers can build replicas. They are quite addicted to that.

The city government has just inaugurated an expensive project to renovate the historical Qianmen area. The idea is to recreate the architectural look of the late Qing Dynasty (1611-1911) and early Republican years (1911-1949).

But it will be a shame if the genuine heritage is destroyed.

Unfortunately for Qianmen, it is too late.