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