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July 12, 2006
Olympics Imperil Historic Beijing Neighborhood
The NY Times
By Jim Yardley
Average community folk banding together to take a stand against the Olympic development behemoth sounds like last year's news in NYC; only this time, it's in Beijing.
Will the Olympics, which organizers promised would enhance the city’s ‘‘cultural heritage,’’ instead help finish off what remains of old Beijing?
Many streets and hundreds of courtyard houses have been demolished, but the neighborhood is not yet entirely gone. Scholars, preservationists and residents are trying to save what is left and have generated enough publicity to turn the situation into a political controversy. For now, though, demolition crews are still slowly moving forward.
...
Mike Meyer, an American who lives in the neighborhood and is writing a book about it, said other international cities, like Vienna, managed to preserve their ancient neighborhoods. He said that Qianmen could also be restored, block by block, but that officials were instead methodically mowing it down.“They are doing it in stages,” he said. “It’s progressing like a wave cresting.” He said the gradual approach had left many residents elsewhere in the city unaware of the scope of the demolition. Comparing it to New York, he added, “It’s like one morning you woke up and Chelsea was gone.”
NoLandGrab: Maybe they want to get with the Develop Don't Destroy franchise and incorporate "Develop Don't Destroy Beijing" (DDDB).
Posted by lumi at July 12, 2006 10:12 PM