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One decade into the urban century, with over half of the world's population living in cities, Wang Jun's masterful account of the modern history of planning in Beijing has given us a wise and cautionary tale for planners, policy makers and anyone interested in place-making. Unlike any other account, Wang combines his knowledge of the facts of past efforts to guide Beijing with the little-known political landscape behind the decisions. Wang Jun's Beijing Record sharply defines the choices 21st century cities all face balancing culture, history and development in an engaging and sobering account of this ancient city's ultimate failure in striking that balance. --Jeffrey Soule, Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP), Director, Outreach and International Programs, American Planning Association
Wang Jun is a rare breed among contemporary Chinese journalists. When he seizes upon a subject which he cares about profoundly, he delves tirelessly into it until he gathers all the facts and lets them speak incisively for themselves. As someone who lives in a courtyard house behind the Forbidden City for the past ten years, I am a witness to the state of this preservation of old Beijing which Wang Jun writes about with a powerful sense of urgency. He writes passionately without letting the research and facts overcome his sense of personal committment. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Chinese culture, history and environment. --Liu Heung Shing, Pulitzer prize-winning photographer, Author of China After Mao; China, Portrait of a Country
Wang Jun is a rare breed among contemporary Chinese journalists. When he seizes upon a subject which he cares about profoundly, he delves tirelessly into it until he gathers all the facts and lets them speak incisively for themselves. As someone who lives in a courtyard house behind the Forbidden City for the past ten years, I am a witness to the state of this preservation of old Beijing which Wang Jun writes about with a powerful sense of urgency. He writes passionately without letting the research and facts overcome his sense of personal committment. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Chinese culture, history and environment. --Liu Heung Shing, Pulitzer prize-winning photographer, Author of China After Mao; China, Portrait of a Country
Wang Jun is a rare breed among contemporary Chinese journalists. When he seizes upon a subject which he cares about profoundly, he delves tirelessly into it until he gathers all the facts and lets them speak incisively for themselves. As someone who lives in a courtyard house behind the Forbidden City for the past ten years, I am a witness to the state of this preservation of old Beijing which Wang Jun writes about with a powerful sense of urgency. He writes passionately without letting the research and facts overcome his sense of personal committment. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Chinese culture, history and environment. --Liu Heung Shing, Pulitzer prize-winning photographer, Author of China After Mao; China, Portrait of a Country
Wang Jun is a rare breed among contemporary Chinese journalists. When he seizes upon a subject which he cares about profoundly, he delves tirelessly into it until he gathers all the facts and lets them speak incisively for themselves. As someone who lives in a courtyard house behind the Forbidden City for the past ten years, I am a witness to the state of this preservation of old Beijing which Wang Jun writes about with a powerful sense of urgency. He writes passionately without letting the research and facts overcome his sense of personal committment. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Chinese culture, history and environment. --Liu Heung Shing, Pulitzer prize-winning photographer, Author of China After Mao; China, Portrait of a Country
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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 a valuable historical architecture 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 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 Records" ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces.
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Simply the best study on the recent history of Beijing, period
22 Mar 2012
Format:Hardcover
Wang Jun's book on the pitfalls of Beijing's development since, basically, it was remade the capital of China again in 1949, is a landmark study. Based on ten years of extensive archival research, including personal interviews with many of those involved in the decision making processes that shaped Beijing from the mid-50s of the 20th century onward, it is the most exhaustive study on the subject of Beijing's transformation, especially taking into account the decisions made in the late 1950s until the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The imperial capital of Beijing of course not long ago was deemed a masterpiece of urban planning - it is nowadays splintered into a highly fragmented city where global market forces play the dominant role.
The main topics of the book are introduced early on: demolition versus preservation; honoring the past over globally marketing a new era; socialist housing versus imperial (some say: feudal) style living; revolutionary planning versus highly suspect traditional values (at least in the eyes of the new leaders); in short: the socialist rebranding of an old (and very unique) capital city. And so the story unfolds, twists and turns, introducing planners (such as the UPenn educated Liang Sicheng and his wife Lin Huiyin) in favor of preserving at least the original shape of the city, while others, Russians mostly, enter the fray (on the behest of Mao Zedong) with notions of socialist grandeur, basing their plans for Beijing on their experiences in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The result, of course, is that "in just about 40 years...urban Beijing of today is six or seven times as large as old Beijing...; It means that over the decades, six or seven new cities as large as old Beijing have been built." (p.37) The result of this mostly unchecked, ruptured, violent development, is, in one word, largely unrecognizable.
Wang Jun is a senior (investigative) reporter with Xinhua News Agency. The Chinese edition of this book was awarded very prestigious prices, and is now (unheard of for such a title) in its seventh or eigth print run. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the fate of the modern socialist city, no matter where; in a larger sense, it is a text-book study of the forces which shaped Chinese modernity, especially in the way this modernity expresses itself in China's hyper-dense urban environments. This book is highly recommended.
The main topics of the book are introduced early on: demolition versus preservation; honoring the past over globally marketing a new era; socialist housing versus imperial (some say: feudal) style living; revolutionary planning versus highly suspect traditional values (at least in the eyes of the new leaders); in short: the socialist rebranding of an old (and very unique) capital city. And so the story unfolds, twists and turns, introducing planners (such as the UPenn educated Liang Sicheng and his wife Lin Huiyin) in favor of preserving at least the original shape of the city, while others, Russians mostly, enter the fray (on the behest of Mao Zedong) with notions of socialist grandeur, basing their plans for Beijing on their experiences in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The result, of course, is that "in just about 40 years...urban Beijing of today is six or seven times as large as old Beijing...; It means that over the decades, six or seven new cities as large as old Beijing have been built." (p.37) The result of this mostly unchecked, ruptured, violent development, is, in one word, largely unrecognizable.
Wang Jun is a senior (investigative) reporter with Xinhua News Agency. The Chinese edition of this book was awarded very prestigious prices, and is now (unheard of for such a title) in its seventh or eigth print run. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the fate of the modern socialist city, no matter where; in a larger sense, it is a text-book study of the forces which shaped Chinese modernity, especially in the way this modernity expresses itself in China's hyper-dense urban environments. This book is highly recommended.
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