Urban Monsoon: The Cultural Spirit of Beijing and Shanghai

Author: Yang Dongping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Describing the rapid changes in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chinese cities over the past decade would require a book of substantial length. With the reissue of Urban, I selected several excerpts to form two chapters, expressing my urgent concern for contemporary cities and conveying my urban sentiments to the best of my ability. To preserve the original form, only minor revisions to isolated factual errors and typo corrections were made to the first ten chapters of this book. I am grateful to Yan Bofei, Kong Lingqin, and New Star Publishing House for giving me the opportunity to organize and express my thoughts. Writing with zero distance to reality inevitably sacrifices the depth and meticulousness that should be present. However, compared to the arduous efforts of hands-on preservation, words may no longer hold as much significance. I am deeply grateful to Huaxin, Wang Jun, Fang Ke, and many old and new friends for their relentless struggles to protect Beijing’s ancient capital. They have not only used pens and cameras but also invested immense time, emotion, and even their blood-stained hearts, even risking their lives, in battles against bulldozers and the shortsightedness and greed of some. Like Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanshang, they are the saviors of Beijing, and history will remember them.
Often people ask me whether I prefer Beijing or Shanghai. My heartfelt feeling is that it is because of these people’s existence that the city without walls—Beijing—has become somewhat lovable.