Chinese Architecture, Old and New

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/chinese-architecture-old-and-new/100409/

by thingummywut • 14 years ago

114 26 14 years ago

moonboots• 14 years ago

As a side note, I love the slideshow UI. The keyboard navigation (j/k or left/right) brings each picture flush against the top of the screen. I hate when I need to manually scroll down to bring the picture into full view and hide the navigation boilerplate, especially when a site uses full page refreshes instead of ajax. Unlike more interactive slideshows, this page still works normally without javascript or if the user just prefers scrolling.

espitia3• 14 years ago

I've been living in China for the past 4 months and plan on staying until May. It really is two different worlds. Having traveled through the more modern cities (Shanghai and Beijing for example) and contrasting those to Hangzhou that I'm currently in, it truly is marvelous to see the progress and more importantly the WHY to all this. The Chinese culture and gives one a fresh outlook on life. I would recommend anyone and everyone to take a trip here, it is really inexpensive and very much worth it.

firefoxman13• 14 years ago

Is it necessary to speak the language to get by for a couple weeks?

dvdhsu• 14 years ago

It really depends where you go. If you're in the big cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hefei, etc.), you'll be fine without Chinese. If you go into more rural areas, Chinese would certainly help, but you'll certainly still be able to buy food, live in hotels, and ask for directions (look for the younger crowd; they've had mandatory English classes).

olalonde3• 14 years ago

I know very few expats in China who can really speak Chinese. I've been here for about 2 years (Shenzhen) and barely know a few words. You should at least make a Chinese friend who can help you out when you really need it.

ThisIBereave• 14 years ago

It can be very difficult here to get by without knowing chinese unless you live in a foreigner-friendly area (i.e. a tourist area or near a university).

I'd suggest using a tour company if you want to travel more widely. Having a translator at least would be very valuable.

espitia3• 14 years ago

Not at all. As long as you know the ones you'll be using a lot (food, water, thank you, how much, etc.) you'll be more than fine. Honestly, all you need is body language. I actually have a couple of Korean friends whom I whent out to eat with and without us having a common language. This was back when I knew very little mandarin.

Book your flight and go. Hit me up if you need anything!

bfung• 14 years ago

Looking at the pictures, I actually felt the opposite of "a fresh outlook on life"!

Contrasting the old and the new, I feel like the fake Thames town, the roman columns, the gaudiness of all the buildings loses a lot of the old Chinese culture: the designs of the old and how they relate to the philosophy of the past... but now there's a lot of fake touristy stuff to cover up where the Chinese actually came from.

Anyways, there's no right or wrong here, I just found it interesting =)

olalonde3• 14 years ago

The funny thing is that Chinese think exactly the opposite. For them, the fake touristy stuff are the old buildings and traditional Chinese architecture. It reminds me of people who visit Canada and want to see the real Canada: the remote farms, igloos and virgin forests. For us Canadians, it's a bit ridiculous.

espitia3• 14 years ago

I meant as in you get a new perspective after all that you experience here. You're right though, no right or wrong here. Cheers!

rossjudson• 14 years ago

Foreign governments make it very hard for Chinese citizens to travel abroad (not to mention their own government doing the same thing to them, once they rise to a certain level). Solution? Build replicas of the things so they can see them in China instead.

vsloo• 14 years ago

So many contradictions. So many sorrows. So much progress. So many regrets. So much ignorance. So many hopes. So many disappointments. So much glamour. So much denial. So many inconsistencies. So China...

firefoxman13• 14 years ago

Wow, picture 9 looks straight out of an Orwell story.

arethuza• 14 years ago

You mean the Road to Wigan Pier?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Wigan_Pier

akandiah• 14 years ago

I wonder how many Chinese can afford to live in any of these new buildings.

Some context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbDeS_mXMnM

civilian• 14 years ago

#12 "An emblem decorates the pavement" ?? Excuse me, that's Roman Imperial emblem. I hope the journalist just skipping that for the sake of copy, rather than ignorance.

nachteilig• 14 years ago

Since the picture is described as "inside a building designed to look like a Roman Colosseum", I think the viewer can probably figure that out.

fuzzythinker• 14 years ago

Love the library, and how it doesn't use/have electricity.

jianshen• 14 years ago

I just visited Shenzhen for the first time and was quite overwhelmed by the scale of construction that's going on in China.

This timelapse video does a good job of capturing that feeling: https://vimeo.com/53043267

yaix• 14 years ago

Unfortunately, many "historic" buildings in China are not. They are not reconstructed but destroyed and cheaply rebuild in concrete and then painted. Be it historic pagodas, city walls, monuments, temples, etc. Quickly build it so that it looks old and then make money from tourism. Its a shame.

[Lived in China six years, traveled the country for another six months]

arjn• 14 years ago

I dont like all the new fancy-schmancy stuff. These cities are going to end up looking like any other modern/western city anywhere. No character left. Is anyone looking out for historically significant buildings ?

Chinese Architecture, Old and New

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