Guangzhou’s latest urban development plan sparks debate about preserving cultural roots
- One of the few remaining traditional neighbourhoods in Guangzhou looks to be the latest casualty of rapid gentrification and urbanisation
- Local residents and outsiders are flowing into the area to snap pictures and reminisce before homes are demolished
In the heart of Guangzhou, vague plans are in place to raze part of a traditional community featuring historical buildings that can be traced back to the 1920s – decades before the Chinese Communist Party came to power.
A new subway station and related property projects appear to be at the centre of the plans. And in anticipation of the large-scale project, local residents and visitors are flowing into the neighbourhood, cameras in hand, hoping to secure a few pictures and revisit memories before the wave of change and progress washes away another piece of local history.
The area around Miaoqian Straight Street, in Dongshan district, is among the few remaining traditional communities in Guangzhou – an area historically known as Canton – as the city’s rapid gentrification and modernisation result in old neighbourhoods being demolished.
“As a Cantonese person, I was born here, and I feel so sad and powerless to save our local culture,” said Liang Ying, a retired teacher in her 70s who bought a new cellphone so she could take better photos of the neighbourhood. “Taking pictures to preserve memories is the only thing I can do. I am bidding farewell to the old buildings. Many of them are older than me.”
Liang’s feelings echo some public concerns about whether the destruction of century-old homes on the street is necessary, as they fear it will erase some of the city’s cultural heritage.
The buildings are important cultural and historic landmarks of the Dongshankou area ... The government owes the public a public hearing and reasonable explanation
Municipal authorities first posted notices about the plans in September along a stretch of the street spanning about 200 metres. An undisclosed number of households in that area have since been offered compensation of between 58,000 yuan (US$8,640) and 60,000 yuan per square metre for their homes, if they agreed to relocation plans before October 10.