Chinese Fear More Historic Destruction
中国正发起一波新的开发热潮，以推动经济恢复增长势头。但一些人士却担心这会导致历史建筑遭受新一轮的破坏。在上海，推土机已经在刘家老宅旁待命。这座清代建筑即将迎来150岁生日，院子的历史可以追溯到19世纪后期，比上海引以为豪的外滩沿江建筑群还要早几十年。当年经营着酱油和放贷生意的刘家为族长修建了这个院落。刘家曾经是这个地区的“五大家族”之一，这个院落也在他们的手中延续了10代之久。但今年2月，这座老宅如今的住户收到了15天内搬离的通知。刘家人持续了将近十年的老宅保护战也翻到了最后一页。现如今，四世同堂居住在这个院子的刘家人（上至87岁的耄耋老人，下至4岁的孩子）已经快住不下去了。一堆泥土堵住了老宅的前门。院落的一些部分已经被拆毁。根据镇政府的开发计划，老宅周围的新住宅高楼即将取而代之，而它们很久之前就开始出现在古宅周围了。像刘家人这样的“钉子户”在中国并不罕见。但刘家的状况并没有获得像两年前重庆“钉子户”那样的公众关注和同情，当时那件事几乎吸引了全球媒体的关注。（当然，最后还是逃不过被拆的命运。）在中国，很难确切知道哪些建筑能够安然躲过拆迁铁锤。根据政府的一项统计，上海有2,138座建筑被视为值得保护的“优秀历史建筑”；这座城市也提出了一份文物保护名单，上面包括了一些东亚地区最为著名的历史建筑。但上海同济大学的文物保护人士阮仪三说，上海只有大约1,400座建筑可以完全不用担心被拆毁。他编制了自己的应保护建筑名单，其中包括了另外5,000座由于历史特色而应当得到保护的老建筑。但阮仪三说，开发商对他的意见不予考虑，最近他就曾呼吁上海在兴建2010年世界博览会工程时应保留一处古老聚落，但未能如愿。 刘家老宅已经破旧零乱，而且经过诸多改建；这或许是这座老宅为什么没有出现在保护名单上的原因。镇上的规划者将其视为历史建筑，这一空泛认定暗示着这座老宅可能会被重建而不是直接拆除。但即便如此，历史建筑的质量和声名也不足以保证其安全，尽管国际上不断有人呼吁保护建筑大师贝聿民(I.M. Pei)在上海的祖宅，但这座建筑2001年仍难逃拆毁厄运。政府官员已经来过刘家要求他们搬走。出现在刘家一个入口附近的手电筒和大棒似乎是个信号，表明这家人可能会遭遇更加头疼的事情。上海房屋土地资源管理局的一位官员表示，他知道拆迁刘家老宅的计划，但不愿进一步透露具体情况。刘家可以获得大约10万美元的现金拆迁款，并可在其他地区低价购得四套新住房。但刘家发言人祝建军（音）说，刘家人希望政府承诺他们的老宅被拆后能够易地重建，而不是一拆了事。具讽刺意味的是，刘家老宅正位于上海旅游历史景区七宝古镇，这个景区意在展示几百年前的城市风貌。不过，除了刘家老宅，这个上海历史景区的几乎所有东西都是新建的──中国各地频频出现这类仿古建筑。祝建军指着自家老宅周围的住宅塔楼感叹道，盖在这里的楼一定程度上毁了老镇的文化。James T. Areddy（“中国日志”（China Journal）关注全球第一人口大国的发展变化，《华尔街日报》获奖团队数十位记者倾情献稿，Sky Canaves主笔。欢迎读者发送邮件至[email protected]或在下面评论栏中发表评论和建议。）
China aims to revive its economy by funding a new wave of development. Some fear a downside: A fresh round of destruction of historical property.In Shanghai, the bulldozers are already in place at the Liu family home — just short of the courtyard structure’s 150th birthday. The Qing Dynasty building dates to the latter 1800s, decades before Shanghai could boast of a string of riverside buildings famously known as the Bund. The multi-winged Liu compound was built for the patriarch of a family with interests in soy sauce making and money lending. The Lius were one of the “Big Five” families of the area and the home has remained in their hands for 10 generations.In February, the current occupants got a 15-day notice to move out. It is the final chapter of an almost decade-old battle by the Lius to save the house.But now, fully encapsulated inside a construction site, it is no longer much of a home for the four generations of Lius — aged 4 to 87 — who live there. A pile of dirt blocks the old front gate. Sections of the house have already been demolished. The new apartment neighborhood that will go up in its place long ago began sprouting around it, in line with development plans produced by the district government. (Article in Chinese.)Development holdouts like the Lius aren’t unusual in China. Nor has the Liu family’s standoff won much public notice or sympathy on the level of a case in Chongqing two years ago known as the “nail house” that made headlines around the world. (Of course, that house ended up getting pounded down too.) In China, it can be tough to know exactly what is safe from the wrecking ball. According to one government tally, 2,138 buildings in Shanghai are considered “excellent historical buildings” worth protecting, and the city offers a trove of the some of the best historical architecture anywhere in East Asia. (Article in Chinese.)But Ruan Yishan, a preservationist affiliated with Shanghai’s Tongji University, says only about 1,400 buildings in Shanghai are absolutely protected from demolition. He has compiled his own list that concludes another 5,000 should be retained for their historical characteristics. Still, he says developers ignore him, including recently when he called for preservation of an old neighborhood for Shanghai’s big project of the moment, Expo 2010. The Liu family house is unkempt and much modified — possibly explaining why it appears on no one’s must-save list. Town planners deemed it historical architecture, a vague designation that suggests it could be rebuilt rather than demolished outright. Even so, quality and fame are no guarantee of safety for historical buildings, as the architect I.M. Pei found in 2001 when his ancestral Shanghai home was torn down despite an international outcry to save it.So far, they’ve received polite visits from government officials who request they move on. Flashlights and nightsticks near one entrance speak to the family’s anxiety things might get rougher. An official of Shanghai’s Housing Land and Resource Administration Bureau said he is aware of plans to demolish the Liu home but offered no further details.The Liu family stands to receive about $100,000 cash and four new apartments elsewhere priced at a deep discount. But the family wants a pledge their home will be dismantled and relocated rather than just torn down, says Mr. Zhu.Ironically, the Liu family home is located in a touristy historical district of Shanghai called Qibao that is meant to showcase how the city looked centuries ago. (Article in Chinese.) Yet, besides the Liu family home, most everything else in this “ancient” part of Shanghai is newly built — a kind of fictionalized architecture used elsewhere in China. Pointing to the apartments that now tower over his family’s compound, Mr. Zhu laments, “Building here, to some extent, destroys the culture of the old town.”James T. Areddy
China aims to revive its economy by funding a new wave of development. Some fear a downside: A fresh round of destruction of historical property.In Shanghai, the bulldozers are already in place at the Liu family home — just short of the courtyard structure’s 150th birthday. The Qing Dynasty building dates to the latter 1800s, decades before Shanghai could boast of a string of riverside buildings famously known as the Bund. The multi-winged Liu compound was built for the patriarch of a family with interests in soy sauce making and money lending. The Lius were one of the “Big Five” families of the area and the home has remained in their hands for 10 generations.In February, the current occupants got a 15-day notice to move out. It is the final chapter of an almost decade-old battle by the Lius to save the house.But now, fully encapsulated inside a construction site, it is no longer much of a home for the four generations of Lius — aged 4 to 87 — who live there. A pile of dirt blocks the old front gate. Sections of the house have already been demolished. The new apartment neighborhood that will go up in its place long ago began sprouting around it, in line with development plans produced by the district government. (Article in Chinese.)Development holdouts like the Lius aren’t unusual in China. Nor has the Liu family’s standoff won much public notice or sympathy on the level of a case in Chongqing two years ago known as the “nail house” that made headlines around the world. (Of course, that house ended up getting pounded down too.) In China, it can be tough to know exactly what is safe from the wrecking ball. According to one government tally, 2,138 buildings in Shanghai are considered “excellent historical buildings” worth protecting, and the city offers a trove of the some of the best historical architecture anywhere in East Asia. (Article in Chinese.)But Ruan Yishan, a preservationist affiliated with Shanghai’s Tongji University, says only about 1,400 buildings in Shanghai are absolutely protected from demolition. He has compiled his own list that concludes another 5,000 should be retained for their historical characteristics. Still, he says developers ignore him, including recently when he called for preservation of an old neighborhood for Shanghai’s big project of the moment, Expo 2010. The Liu family house is unkempt and much modified — possibly explaining why it appears on no one’s must-save list. Town planners deemed it historical architecture, a vague designation that suggests it could be rebuilt rather than demolished outright. Even so, quality and fame are no guarantee of safety for historical buildings, as the architect I.M. Pei found in 2001 when his ancestral Shanghai home was torn down despite an international outcry to save it.So far, they’ve received polite visits from government officials who request they move on. Flashlights and nightsticks near one entrance speak to the family’s anxiety things might get rougher. An official of Shanghai’s Housing Land and Resource Administration Bureau said he is aware of plans to demolish the Liu home but offered no further details.The Liu family stands to receive about $100,000 cash and four new apartments elsewhere priced at a deep discount. But the family wants a pledge their home will be dismantled and relocated rather than just torn down, says Mr. Zhu.Ironically, the Liu family home is located in a touristy historical district of Shanghai called Qibao that is meant to showcase how the city looked centuries ago. (Article in Chinese.) Yet, besides the Liu family home, most everything else in this “ancient” part of Shanghai is newly built — a kind of fictionalized architecture used elsewhere in China. Pointing to the apartments that now tower over his family’s compound, Mr. Zhu laments, “Building here, to some extent, destroys the culture of the old town.”James T. Areddy