Comments on: Wiki Wednesday: Beijing http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/08/20/wiki-wednesday-beijing/ Covering the New York City Streets Renaissance Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:31:30 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Larry Littlefield http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/08/20/wiki-wednesday-beijing/comment-page-1/#comment-55399 Larry Littlefield Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:06:13 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=4424#comment-55399 "Many observers are tempted to applaud this transformation as the outcome of newly-acquired affluence and to reject the memory of bicycle-packed thoroughfares as a sign of former poverty. But some press accounts tell a different story." Some thing in Taiwan, according to an article I posted yesterday. The growth of auto dependence is the wrong outcome of newly acquired affluence. In China, parents have to pay school fees to get their kids educated, and many schools are unheated -- and China's climate is similar to the U.S. There are plenty of other things they, and we, can use the money for. "Many observers are tempted to applaud this transformation as the outcome of newly-acquired affluence and to reject the memory of bicycle-packed thoroughfares as a sign of former poverty. But some press accounts tell a different story."

Some thing in Taiwan, according to an article I posted yesterday.

The growth of auto dependence is the wrong outcome of newly acquired affluence. In China, parents have to pay school fees to get their kids educated, and many schools are unheated -- and China's climate is similar to the U.S.

There are plenty of other things they, and we, can use the money for.

]]> By: Mark Walker http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/08/20/wiki-wednesday-beijing/comment-page-1/#comment-55388 Mark Walker Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:03:58 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=4424#comment-55388 Not coincidentally, Beijing has also seen widespread destruction of its pre-automobile neighborhoods. From the <a href="http://www.chinapost.com.tw/life/discover/2008/06/17/161382/Old-Beijing.htm" rel="nofollow">China Post</a>: <blockquote>Alarmed by the destruction of old Beijing, the city agreed in 2002 to preserve 25 historic areas, including part of Qianmen. The same year, the national government pledged in a Beijing Olympics Action Plan to pay "special attention" to conserving buildings in those areas. But the destruction has continued -- and in some cases accelerated -- amid a property boom that is transforming the city. Developers and the local district governments that control land permits stand to profit from the boom, and their interests have prevailed. The Olympics, in the end, fed this trend.... Former Qianmen resident Sun Yunyu, 55, recalls playing by the old city walls as a child and swimming with school friends in a stream that snaked through the alleyways. The city walls were destroyed in a drive to industrialize the city that began in the late 1950's. Sun said she was forced out of her house by police and security officers who carted away the lights and furniture as she watched. Now, her former home sits half-demolished behind metal fencing around the construction site, its traditional roof tiles broken and decorated stone doorway boarded up.</blockquote> Not coincidentally, Beijing has also seen widespread destruction of its pre-automobile neighborhoods. From the China Post:

Alarmed by the destruction of old Beijing, the city agreed in 2002 to preserve 25 historic areas, including part of Qianmen. The same year, the national government pledged in a Beijing Olympics Action Plan to pay "special attention" to conserving buildings in those areas.

But the destruction has continued -- and in some cases accelerated -- amid a property boom that is transforming the city. Developers and the local district governments that control land permits stand to profit from the boom, and their interests have prevailed. The Olympics, in the end, fed this trend....

Former Qianmen resident Sun Yunyu, 55, recalls playing by the old city walls as a child and swimming with school friends in a stream that snaked through the alleyways. The city walls were destroyed in a drive to industrialize the city that began in the late 1950's.

Sun said she was forced out of her house by police and security officers who carted away the lights and furniture as she watched. Now, her former home sits half-demolished behind metal fencing around the construction site, its traditional roof tiles broken and decorated stone doorway boarded up.

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