City Chronicle (Illustrated Edition)

Author: Wang Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The recently passed century was a century of rapid transformation in Beijing. For this historical metropolis with deep cultural heritage, it was merely a fleeting moment in its ever-changing history. The force unleashed during this moment continues to shape the city's historical inertia, molding its present and future form, tangibly influencing or determining the lives of every resident in the city. The City Chronicles attempts to trace the spatial evolution of Beijing over the past half-century and uncover the lesser-known joys and sorrows behind the well-known architecture. The testimonies of historical witnesses bring the past to life, while long-forgotten documents and over three hundred photographs reveal the passage of time as more than just a legend. The lives of architects such as Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Chen Zhanshang, and Hua Lanhong unfold as an unending drama. All of this originates from Beijing, this "greatest individual engineering project on the surface of the earth," which possesses an indelible legend. Over the decade it took to complete this book, the author interviewed over 50 participants, collected, reviewed, and organized a vast amount of primary historical materials, conducted field investigations of important ancient architectural sites in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shanxi, and conducted in-depth research on topics such as Beijing's urban development model and cultural heritage protection. The book is divided into ten chapters, starting with the present reality of Beijing and expanding through the main debates in Beijing's urban construction history over the past half-century, with a focus on the 1950s and 1960s. The life stories of architects and planners such as Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Chen Zhanshang, and Hua Lanhong are interwoven throughout, attempting to clarify the causes and consequences of the proposal of the "Liang-Chen Plan" and the subsequent formation of urban planning. The book also discusses the emergence of "large roof" architecture and the demolition of city walls in Beijing, as well as historical periods such as "transforming a consumer city into a production city," "critiquing retroatism," "the Great Leap Forward," "the Rectification Campaign," and the "Cultural Revolution." Equally important as the text are the over three hundred illustrations selected for the book, which include rare private photographs and artworks, such as drawings from Liang Sicheng's work notes and previously unpublished watercolor sketches by Liang Sicheng.