以傳播城市化專業知識為己任
2024年11月24日
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Lots of people came to Tanhualin and found it unique somehow.But why is it? What is the historical value of this neighborhood? In short, it records the history of the transformation of the Chinese nation. Here I would like to share how I see the three times of opening up in modern history.
The first time of opening up started from the Opium War in 1840 till the Revolution of 1911,during which time the western countries broke in and we went from passively opening up to actively take up the gauntlet, and then to all-around progress.It abolished the feudal monarchy and gave birth to the Republic of China,which opened up a new era of democratic republic.
The second time of opening up was since Mr Sun Yat-sen advocated alliance with Russia and the Communist Party till the Communist Party in China started to learn from Russia in all respects,our systems of politics,economy,culture,education,news,medical care,sanitation were all learning from the Soviet Union at that time until the year of 1978. This time’s opening up, the east wind definitely prevailed over the west one.
The third time of opening up was since the year of 1978,again we connected to the world represented by western countries. This time’s opening up was on our initiative. Especially Deng Xiaoping’s two trips to the south, which emerged a new climax in China of reform and opening up.
Wuhan is an amazing city.It led twice of the opening up in Chinese history.However during the third time of opening up, Wuhan lost its glamour due to the over torment of ‘learning from Russia’ and ‘leaning to one side policy’.Among the 156 major projects supported by the Soviet Union,8 of them were located in Hubei, among which 7 were in Wuhan. Today we advocate to revitalize Wuhan is to revitalize the grand Wuhan city that was strong enough to conquer the war as the number 1 city of Asia, and called up the revolution of 1911.
Why the first uprising was in Wuchang instead of other central cities? The fact is that the first Uprising in Wuchang did not happen accidentally, but an inevitable outcome of the overall modernization of the society.Wuchang chose to open up to the outside world in a rational way: there were churches being built from Hankou to Wuchang;establishment of schools ,public libraries, indoor gyms and hospitals beside the governor’s mansion.All of these helped to bring in new thoughts,knowledge as well as life-styles.
Nowadays China is more in need of a rational choice of the world advanced civilization.Under the guilder of the Communist Party, we need to rule the country by law, and let people be the masters. Meanwhile,how do we absorb the advanced culture from the world? A huge responsibility lies in Wuchang.However Tanhualin is definitely the first and foremost area we need to look into, for it records the real history of Wuchang.
There are several things that separate Tanhualin from other historical and cultural districts. First, It is like a quiet island in a noisy city with a slow pace of life, which brings people a unique feeling and inspiration. Second, this neighborhood is of 100 hectares with outstanding historical constructions in it. Third, like many old cities in China, it has become a decayed city hinterland even with city slums inside.Forth, due to the over amount and low quality of civil constructions, continuous rehabilitation needs to be done.
At a more mundane level, since the 1970s,the recapitalization of historical and cultural districts has gone through three phases: Phase one was to protect the heritage ,single layer construction and structures that related to the great men or doctrines;Phase two was to protect clusters of ancient structures,city space and architectural environment;Phase three was about focusing on the usage of land,social structure,transportation system and the city population, emphasis are also put on investment, local economic development, raising the management standard and all-around rejuvenation.
From this perspective, Tanhualin is right in the phase three.First, Tanhualin’s ancient buildings are well-protected, more than 50 historical structures but no one claims to be cultural relics are kept, which is quite difficult to do; Second, since the distance of space is kept thus gives out a sense of reality to its history.What needs to be discussed afterwards should be the social and economic development and the all-around rejuvenation.
Normally what we do in China as the old-style revolution is to outsource the historical construction-intensive areas to the real-estate developers for demolition,business projects;with much effort put on the suburban areas, however the city hinterland kept on decaying.Its advantage is gaining commercial success,consumption innovation and a city name card. However the problem is that they are almost of single function,Disneyland-like view, commercialized operating model,households to be relocated,local life was ceased,commercial management,neat and uniformed constructions, that are all artificial without historical value.To our delight,we have seen a unique way of revitalization of the historical and cultural district in Tanhualin.It can be concluded from two aspects:First it is culture oriented,being historical,artistic, international and well-designed;social mechanism, which means the overlap of scenic areas and local communities, with the collaboration between Liangdao Street and Wuchang Tourism and Cultural Development Corporation and participation of government enterprises,social organizations,social enterprises,social investment,etc.
Wuchang District doesn’t consider Tanhualin as a single historical and cultural district or a cultural industrial park, but an organic and complex living organism.
From 2003 to 2006,Tanhualin has made up the plan for protection and put into action as well;from 2007 to 2012, they have built the art village to promote the development of culture industry; from 2013 till now, Tanhualin has started the management pattern of integrated education and opening up to the outside world.
Tanhualin is a live neighborhood.Because people can see that the local residents’ life are not affected by the revitalization of this area.There is an 83-year-old lady who wears a red armband in Tanhualin helping to educate tourists not to litter. This is the first time I have seen anything like this in all the historical districts in our country.Only in Tanhualin, in Wuchang, can we actually be able to see this harmonious co-autonomy situation.
Even though there is no standard answer for the revitalization of Tanhualin, but the innovative governance of this community could well support it. What is innovative governance? You might ask. We would suggest to form a committee in charge of the revitalization project, which is an integrated decisive agency rather than an office nor a cultural and tourism company.Also a promotion center can be built under the guidance of the committee that acts like an executor,using funds from the government to help with the public finance.After that,the cultural and tourism company should start one-stage development together with social NGEs,instead of acting on its own as a state-owned enterprise. At the same time, a fund for revitalization should be raised by the government to encourage and support the research of Tanhualin.Besides,we should bring in social organizations, social enterprises to supply with professional services as an investment to social impact,therefore people from all walks of life would be able to contribute to this project.
What is the vision of Tanhualin? In the future, the historical buildings should still be there with the dynamic atmosphere around them; It should be the real China in foreigners’eyes and an outside world for all the Chinese people.It should be the window for the elders to look back to the past and the youngsters to look forward to the future.It should be a relaxing place like Barcelona or Lijiang,where people seek for love and inspiration.
The reason for us to revitalize a historical and cultural district is not to memorize the past but for the present,for the future development of the city.If you were to ask me what is the future Tanhualin in my mind, I would tell you the answer quoted from Confucius, ‘those who are around here should feel pleasant to live and those from afar should be pleasant to come.’I wish the local residents would be happy to say that ‘I love Tanhualin for I am the master here.’And for those who come to visit,they would say ‘I have heard about this amazing neighborhood and I am so glad to be here.’
