The Traditions of Chinese Cities
Sze Tsung Leong
In 32 Magazine (Winter 2004).
One of the most important historical
characteristics of cities in China is continuity with the
past—an aspect reflected in the urban patterns and
layouts that have remained, in their many incarnations over the
centuries, relatively unchanging. Despite the common view that
present-day Chinese cities constitute a break with the past,
they are still consistent with three historical patterns that
have defined urban change in China: large-scale destruction and
replacement of urban fabrics to inaugurate changes of emperors
or dynasties; massive relocations of populations; and highly
planned urban configurations enabled by centralized and
unchallenged forms of authority. These traditions underly the
shape and nature of the contemporary Chinese city.
The persistence of these traditions is
possible only in a nation and society that has historically
been steered by absolute forms of power. Only by acting as
vehicles of these forms of power can urban and architectural
development undergo processes that are by now
commonplace—demolishing, relocating, wiping clean, and
starting anew—all on a magnitude that affects not just
individuals, but populations. Concentrated authority gave shape
to cities such as traditional Beijing. It also wiped them
clean, accommodating a new society in the form of luxury
apartment complexes, office towers, and shopping centers. Power
today may not exist in the singular form of an Emperor or a
Chairman, but it is managed and exercised with enough strength
to channel the possibilities for urban experience, and to
choose which urban traditions to preserve.
Text © Sze Tsung Leong