Beijing Record: A Physical And Political History Of Planning Modern Beijing

Beijing Record: A Physical And Political History Of Planning Modern Beijing PDF Author: Jun Wang
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814465542
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 537

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Book Description
Beijing Record, the result of ten years of research on the urban transformation of Beijing in the last fifty years, brings to an extended Western audience the inside story on the key decisions that led to Beijing's present urban fragmentation and its loss of memory and history in the form of bulldozing its architectural heritage. 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 original Chinese bestseller edition was published by SDX joint Publishing Company House in October 2003, it ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces. The Chinese edition is in its 11th print run and was translated into Japanese in 2008. This newly-translated English version has the latest update on the author's findings in the area. As the only edition printed in full color with nearly 300 illustrations, the English version powerfully showcases the stunning architecture, culture, and history of China's Dynamic Capital, Beijing.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 have a valuable historical architectural heritage 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 firsthand 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. Many illustrations are published here for the first time, compiled in the 1990s when archival public access was reformulated.

Beijing Record: A Physical And Political History Of Planning Modern Beijing

Beijing Record: A Physical And Political History Of Planning Modern Beijing PDF Author: Jun Wang
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814465542
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 537

Get Book Here

Book Description
Beijing Record, the result of ten years of research on the urban transformation of Beijing in the last fifty years, brings to an extended Western audience the inside story on the key decisions that led to Beijing's present urban fragmentation and its loss of memory and history in the form of bulldozing its architectural heritage. 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 original Chinese bestseller edition was published by SDX joint Publishing Company House in October 2003, it ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces. The Chinese edition is in its 11th print run and was translated into Japanese in 2008. This newly-translated English version has the latest update on the author's findings in the area. As the only edition printed in full color with nearly 300 illustrations, the English version powerfully showcases the stunning architecture, culture, and history of China's Dynamic Capital, Beijing.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 have a valuable historical architectural heritage 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 firsthand 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. Many illustrations are published here for the first time, compiled in the 1990s when archival public access was reformulated.

Beijing Record

Beijing Record PDF Author: Jun Wang
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814295728
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 537

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Book Description
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 valuable historical architecture such as city ramparts, gateways, old temples, memorial archways and the urban fabric of the 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 Record ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion in a country where public interaction over such a sensitive subject rarely surfaces.

China's Great Train

China's Great Train PDF Author: Abrahm Lustgarten
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805090185
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Lustgarten's book is a timely and provocative account of China's unstoppable quest to build a railway into Tibet, and the nation's obsession to transform its land and its people.

Urban China

Urban China PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464802068
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
In the last 30 years, China’s record economic growth lifted half a billion people out of poverty, with rapid urbanization providing abundant labor, cheap land, and good infrastructure. While China has avoided some of the common ills of urbanization, strains are showing as inefficient land development leads to urban sprawl and ghost towns, pollution threatens people’s health, and farmland and water resources are becoming scarce. With China’s urban population projected to rise to about one billion – or close to 70 percent of the country’s population – by 2030, China’s leaders are seeking a more coordinated urbanization process. Urban China is a joint research report by a team from the World Bank and the Development Research Center of China’s State Council which was established to address the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in China and to help China forge a new model of urbanization. The report takes as its point of departure the conviction that China's urbanization can become more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable. However, it stresses that achieving this vision will require strong support from both government and the markets for policy reforms in a number of area. The report proposes six main areas for reform: first, amending land management institutions to foster more efficient land use, denser cities, modernized agriculture, and more equitable wealth distribution; second, adjusting the hukou household registration system to increase labor mobility and provide urban migrant workers equal access to a common standard of public services; third, placing urban finances on a more sustainable footing while fostering financial discipline among local governments; fourth, improving urban planning to enhance connectivity and encourage scale and agglomeration economies; fifth, reducing environmental pressures through more efficient resource management; and sixth, improving governance at the local level.

The Beijing Riot

The Beijing Riot PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9787800850196
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description


The China Record

The China Record PDF Author: Fei-Ling Wang
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438492286
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
The China Record provides readers with an ambitious, detailed, and wide-ranging examination of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) both as an alternative mode of political system and a distinctive model of socioeconomic development. Fei-Ling Wang assesses the record of the economy under the CCP, people's lives and rights, and China's spiritual and physical ecology. He focuses on issues of political representation, criminal justice, fiscal and monetary policies, state-led growth, living standards, academia and education, inequality and poverty, disaster relief and pandemic prevention, culture and ethics, and the protection of antiquities and the environment. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, The China Record seeks to provide a solid and balanced, yet unflinching, view about the nature, strengths, weaknesses, and implications of the PRC as an emerging superpower and a potential world leader. It is an effort to introduce a holistic evaluation of the CCP-PRC's overall efficacy, efficiency, power, sustainability, and desirability—or the lack thereof.

Old Beijing

Old Beijing PDF Author: Felicitas Titus
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462908896
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 713

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Book Description
This collection of rare and vintage postcards offers a unique look at a vanished China and its storied capital. Comprising 355 black-and-white and hand-tinted Beijing photography postcards that span the period from the last years of Imperial China to the Japanese invasion of 1937, it is a treasure trove for buffs of Beijing history, collectors, Sinophiles, and anyone fascinated by people and cultures from times past. Readers will enjoy the wide selection of images showing different aspects of the life of old Peking--from the arrival of a camel train at a city gate to hand-colored views of the Forbidden City and an array of vendors, street performers, officials, gentry, commoners, and foreign tourists. Several chapters present the city's distinctive Beijing architecture--its walls and gates, towers, fountains, temples, pagodas, memorial arches, and public or imperial buildings, including the Summer and Winter Palaces and the Ming Tombs. Other chapters of Chinese photography look at the Manchu rulers, street life, the Legation Quarter and Western presence, and the Great Wall. Included are some rare scenes depicting the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion and 1911 revolution; Manchu fashion, colorful means of transportation, and the coming of the railroad. Of particular note are images of the Empress Dowager, the child emperor Puyi, and other personalities at the Manchu Court. The book also includes eight color postcards of paintings by the famous artist Carl Wuttke and rare cards showing etched drawings of the Old Summer Palace--now only a field of ruins. The author, who was born and lived in China before 1949, has written an informative introduction to each chapter as well as a general introduction to classical Beijing. A foreword by historian and Beijing expert Susan Naquin situates this collection at once as a precious record of old Peking and a revealing snapshot of Western views of China in the first golden age of tourism. Old Beijing: Postcards from the Imperial City offers a visual time capsule of both Beijing's history and traditional Chinese culture in a unique and revealing postcard format.

Owning the Olympics

Owning the Olympics PDF Author: Monroe Price
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472024507
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
"A major contribution to the study of global events in times of global media. Owning the Olympics tests the possibilities and limits of the concept of 'media events' by analyzing the mega-event of the information age: the Beijing Olympics. . . . A good read from cover to cover." —Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games. Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood. digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.

Wealth and Power

Wealth and Power PDF Author: Orville Schell
Publisher:
ISBN: 0679643478
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Two leading experts on China evaluate its rise throughout the past one hundred fifty years, sharing portraits of key intellectual and political leaders to explain how China transformed from a country under foreign assault to a world giant.

Beijing Jeep

Beijing Jeep PDF Author: Jim Mann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429981724
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
When China opened its doors to the West in the late 1970s, Western businesses jumped at the chance to sell their products to the most populous nation in the world. Boardrooms everywhere buzzed with excitement?a Coke for every citizen, a television for every family, a personal computer for every office. At no other time have the institutions of Western capitalism tried to do business with a communist state to the extent that they did in China under Deng Xiaoping. Yet, over the decade leading up to the bloody events in and around Tiananmen Square, that experiment produced growing disappointment on both sides, and a vision of capturing the world's largest market faded.Picked as one of Fortune Magazine's "75 Smartest Books We Know," this updated version of Beijing Jeep, traces the history of the stormy romance between American business and Chinese communism through the experiences of American Motors and its operation in China, Beijing Jeep, a closely watched joint venture often visited by American politicians and Chinese leaders. Jim Mann explains how some of the world's savviest executives completely misjudged the business climate and recounts how the Chinese, who acquired valuable new technology at virtually no expense to themselves, ultimately outcapitalized the capitalists. And, in a new epilogue, Mann revisits and updates the events which constituted the main issues of the first edition.Elegantly written, brilliantly reported, Beijing Jeep is a cautionary tale about the West's age-old quest to do business in the Middle Kingdom.