Shanghai's former glory (2)

The Union Church at Waitanyuan. Photo: CFP

"The Outer Bund was where foreigners first trod Shanghai soil and it has always been considered the most Westernized region of China," he said. "Bringing these 'tasteless' objects into this neighborhood, switching time and place, embodies a historical sense. This is not only a homage but also a show of respect to all rural workers in China."

The project is also important as China's relentless development threatens many of its historical buildings. Just down the road, or more accurately, the river, Wuxi was a tiny backwater a little over 100 years ago. By 1937, it was one of the sixth-largest industrial and economic centers in China.

During the 199os, Wuxi began planning to move industry out of the city center, but they were left with silk factories, flour mills, dockyards and electronics factories - beautiful, solid buildings with no function. Wuxi took the decision to preserve the buildings and then the arguments began.

"More important than preservation is function - these places have to be viable," asserted prominent landscape architect Yu Kongjian. Merely maintaining old buildings, like an elephant's graveyard amid the skyscrapers, is just not cost effective.

"They need to be fully functioning places of beauty," Yu added. "Meeting places, art galleries, coffee shops. To be used in the long term. We need to take what's there, preserve it and recreate it for the future and in this way we'll make China's heritage a part of her future and an open part."

Yu has long battled to turn China's historical buildings into something for the future. He believes that if you tear down and rebuild, even buildings that some find offensive, you lose a piece of yourself, just as if you try to rewrite history. While many have criticized Yu's approach, Tsinghua University's professor Zhang He thinks modernizing old buildings is, "Unnecessary meddling that detracts from the historical spirit," others would just as soon see the colonial fingerprint of the Outer Bund erased altogether.

Source: Global Times(By Gareth George)

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