Ape Rifle

Whenever I think that a Chinese version of the Onion would be a grand idea, a real news story materializes to demonstrate why this would be largely redundant. In the buildup to the 2008 Olympics, Beijing’s mayor has urged that the demolition of impoverished neighbourhoods be sped up:

Beijing’s mayor has called for a speeding up of the demolition of impoverished neighborhoods in China’s capital as part of preparations for the 2008 Olympics, the Beijing Daily reported Saturday.

On a tour of one area in the process of being razed Friday, Mayor Wang Qishan told officials and construction workers that demolishing the dilapidated neighborhoods is an essential task this year and that the work must be accelerated, the newspaper said. Beijing is undergoing a thorough makeover for the 2008 Games, spending an estimated US$40 billion (euro32 billion) to put up sporting venues, lay down new roads and subway lines, build residential communities in the suburbs and beautify the capital.

Part of the effort targets poorer areas known as “inner city villages” _ where many homes were built illegally and many of whose residents are rural migrants.

The Beijing Daily said about a third of these areas designated for destruction have been torn down, with the rest to be finished by year’s end.

“This work is full of significance in strengthening the environment, building a livable city and realizing the strategic plan of a ‘New Beijing, Great Olympics,”‘ the newspaper quoted Wang as saying.

Yes, those Chinese leaders sure have a lot of chutzpah. I do, however, have to admire the brutal honesty of a statement like this; in more election-prone and media-saavy parts of the world, urban ‘renewal’ activities are usually sugar-coated in empty rhetoric about social inclusion or something of the sort. No politician in this corner of the world would be caught dead publiclycalling for the demolition of poor neighbourhoods, no matter how much this might be the actual outcome of an urban renewal project (although usually through economic displacement rather than actual physical destruction). But in Beijing, public officials feel no such need to hide intentions nor outcomes: the city has big plans, and all those poor people had better get out of the way- literally. As much as this is a sign of the fundamental disregard for the poor masses in the Chinese context, I think it unfair to single out China; after all, social exclusion is a long-standing Olympic tradition the world over. The Middle Kingdom just has a lot more disadvantaged people to move out of the way.

Apart from the usual social, moral and political questions swirling around urban China’s frantic remodelling, I was particularly perplexed by the mayor’s view that slum demolition is “full of significance in strengthening the environment” and “building a liveable city”. I fear, Mr. Wang, that a little mass displacement of visible poverty is hardly enough to accomplish your lofty goals. You might want to also look at the mess the richer segments of your society are making of your city. With its miles of questionably-designed and hastily-built highrises serviced by the transportation sensibilities of Los Angeles, Beijing isn’t exactly a beacon of beauty. At the risk of causing further outrage, I’ll just get to the point and say it:

Beijing is an ugly city.

Before the usual tempers flare, let me remind you that just because a city isn’t beautiful doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, lively or fascinating. I’m actually a fan of Beijing, and I found the city to be all three of these and more. But I think even the strongest proponent of the city knows deep down that, well, the place is just ugly. When you mix socialist Bloc aesthetics with the neon sensibilities of rampant Asian capitalism, you won’t be winning too many design awards.

I guess Mr. Wang’s problem is that so much ugliness has resulted from Beijing’s massive urban renewal campaign rather than having been eliminated by it. As far as I can tell, the gridlocked ring roads and rows of new and shamelessly gaudy skyscrapers aren’t relics of the past, nor were they built for poor rural migrants (although they were built bythem). The minimal aesthetic appeal of Chinese cities stems not so much from the visibility of poverty as it does from the convenient collusion between overbearing state planning, obsessed as it is with Modernism, and the imperatives of rampant real estate speculation. Beijing has turned itself into an absolute concrete jungle, and that is not something that a little slum clearance is going to alleviate. Thank god for China’s capital that it still has so much life going on at street level (at least in certain places), but I fear there are also plans in place to assure the city is as lifeless as possible by 2008.

For a potential solution to its perceived crisis in beauty and liveability, perhaps Beijing can take a cue from its more southern counterpart and eternal nemesis, Shanghai. In China’s largest city, government officials have apparently come to the conclusion that what blights the place is not dilapitated poverty but rather works of more recent and wealthier provenance. In a Shanghai Daily article (via Shanghaiist), one such official says the city is tearing down a 25-floor building because it’s “not in harmony with its surroundings”. In other words, it’s just ugly.

Demolishing some of the more questionable results of China’s urban construction binge? Now that’s a neigbourhood renewal project I could get behind. And it would be a massive source of employment for rural migrants, the country’s urban areas being absolutely rife with recent skyline additions already begging for demolition. In Shanghai alone, Shanghaiist posits, we are easily talking about “75 percent of the high-rises built in the past 20 years”. Based on anecdotal evidence, the figure in Beijing is likely to be much higher.

Good luck, Mr.Wang. You are going to need it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 9:44 pm and is filed under China, Urban Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.