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Transformation of an Ideal City – Beijing

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Transformation of an Ideal City – Beijing Past and Present: Transformation of An Ideal City – Beijing By Feng Xiao Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture Brian Katen Wendy Jacobson Joseph Wang May, 1999 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Ideal City, Beijing, Transformation Past and Present: Transformation of An Ideal City – Beijing By Feng Xiao (Abstract) Early Chinese city planners and builders succeeded in creating a imperial ideal city – Beijing. The spatial order of Beijing expresses the elaborate system of imperial hierarchy (meaning). Since the founding of People’s Republic in 1949 as all the physical elements which defined the old spatial order have changed, the Chinese State attempted to reconstruct a new ideal city –a people’s capital of socialist era. Some of these changes ignored the historical and aesthetic values of the traditional elements for utilitarian functions. This thesis examines the transformation process of this ideal city in terms of the physical elements and sociological perspectives, identifies the unique order and meaning of urban space in the ideal city – Beijing, and articulates some design principals that could be used to reconstruct a new ideal city – Beijing, express the new ideology of the people in the socialist era and preserve the historical and aesthetic values of traditional elements. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Mr. Brian Katen for providing supervision as my committee chair. Thanks to Ms. Wendy Jacobson for finding time in her busy schedule to sit on my committee and offer a lot of knowledge in the whole process. Thanks to Mr. Joseph Wang for his support and guidance in Chinese architecture and history. Thanks to my mother, sister and all of my family and friends for their support and understanding. Lastly, I would like to thank my husband, Xin, for his encouragement and support throughout this study. He has provided a lot of time to collect information and has given me strength and love to complete this goal. iii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………….…………..1 Research Question .……………………………………………………….…………….1 Objectives ……………………………………………………………….……………...2 Literature Review ………………………………………………………..……………..3 Methodology ……………………………………………………………..……………..3 Framework ………………………………………………………………..…………….4 Chapter Two: Evolution of the Ideal City……………………..………..……………...6 Philosophers’ Concern .………………………………………………….……….……..6 Architects’ Concern .…………………………………………………...………….…..12 Functionalism …………………………………………………….………...………… 17 Chapter Three: Beijing, An Imperial Ideal City……..……………………………….27 History …………………………………………………………………………………27 Analysis of Physical Elements………….………….…………………………………..31 City Boundary – Walls ………………………………………………………………31 The Most Important Institutions – the Forbidden City ……………………………...36 Spatial Organization – Axial Alignment and Nesting of Boundary ………………...38 Circulation System ……………………………………………………………….….40 Relationship between City and Courtyard House …………………………….……..43 Chapter Four: Remaking Beijing as a People’s Ideal Capital ………………………45 Changes in Chinese Society ……………………………………………..…………… 45 1912-1949 …………………………..……………………………………………… 45 After 1949 …………………………………………………………………………...46 Changes to the Physical Elements ………………………….……………………..…. 47 Liang’s Proposal …………………………………………………………………….47 New Plan of Beijing …………………………………………………………………50 Changes to Five Elements…………….……………….……………….………….…51 Boundary of City …………………………………………………………………. 51 The Most Important Institutions …………………………………..………..……. 52 Spatial Organization and Circulation System ……………………………….…… 53 Case Study I – from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men ………………………..… 54 iv Before 1949 ……………………………………………………….…..…………55 After 1949 ……………………………………………………………..………...62 Relationship between city and Courtyard House…………………………………..66 Traditional Courtyard House…………………………………………..…………66 Two Types of Housing Developed after 1949……………………………………69 Case Study II – New Type of Courtyard House ……………………………….… 70 Chapter Five: Findings ………………...………………………………………...…… 76 Chapter Six: Conclusion……………..……………………...……………….….……..78 Bibliography ……………………………..…………………………………….….….. 81 Vita………………………………………………………………………………………84 v List of Figures Figure 1.1: A Conceptual Model………………………………………………………….5 Figure 2.1: City of Truth……………………………………………………………….…7 Figure 2.2: Christianopolis………………………………………………………………..8 Figure 2.3: Plan of Wang Cheng…………………………………………………………10 Figure 2.4: Great Plan……………………………………………………………………11 Figure 2.5: Fortress of a Tyrant………………………………………………………….12 Figure 2.6: Sforzinda…………………………………………………………………….13 Figure 2.7: Sforzinda…………………………………………………………………….13 Figure 2.8: Sforzinda………………………………………….…………………………14 Figure 2.9: Chaux………………………………………………………………………..15 Figure 2.10: Garden Cities of Tomorrow………………………………………………..17 Figure 2.11: A Contemporary City for Three Million Inhabitants………………………19 Figure 2.12: A Contemporary City for Three Million Inhabitants………………………19 Figure 2.13: Moscow Continuous Park of Culture and Rest………………….…………22 Figure 2.14: Moscow Continuous Park of Culture and Rest……………….……………22 Figure 2.15: Plan of Moscow…………………………………………………………….23 Figure 2.16: Nikolayev: Student hostel, Moscow, 1930…………………………………23 Figure 2.17: Nikolayev: Student hostel, Moscow, 1930…………………………………24 Figure 3.1: Plan of Dadu in Yuan Dynasty……………………………………………....29 Figure 3.2: Plan of Beijing in Ming and Qing Dynasty………………………………….30 Figure 3.3: Locations of the Liao, Jin and Yuan Capitals……………………………….31 Figure 3.4: Tower at the Corner of the City Wall………………………………………..32 Figure 3.5: Something and Nothing……………………………………………………...33 Figure 3.6: Plan and Perspective of Ming Tang…………………………………………34 Figure 3.7: Diagram of Ming Tang………………………………………………………34 Figure 3.8: Two types of walls…………………………………………………………..35 Figure 3.9: Perspective of the Courtyard House…………………………………………36 Figure 3.10: Plan of the Forbidden City…………………………………………………38 Figure 3.11: North-south axis……………………………………………………………39 vi Figure 3.12: Commercial Street c1933…………………………………………………..41 Figure 3.13: Residential Lane (today), Hutong…………………………...……………..42 Figure 3.14: Comparison between Courtyard house and the city plan…………………..43 Figure 4.1: Changes of Population Density……………………………………………...47 Figure 4.2: Liang’s Proposal of Beijing………………………………………………….48 Figure 4.3: Liang’s Proposal of Beijing………………….………………………………49 Figure 4.4: New Plan of Beijing…………………………………………………………51 Figure 4.5: from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men……………………………………...52 Figure 4.6: New Skyline of Beijing……………………………………………………...54 Figure 4.7: Zheng-yang Men in Ming and Qing Dynasty……………………………….56 Figure 4.8: Zheng-yang Men in c.1914………………………………………………….56 Figure 4.9: Plan from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men at Ming and Qing Dynasty…...57 Figure 4.10: Plan from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men at Ming and Qing Dynasty….58 Figure 4.11: Perspective from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men at Ming and Qing Dynasty……………………………………………………………………..58 Figure 4.12: Plan from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men c1920-c1948………………...60 Figure 4.13: Photo from Zheng-yang Men to Tian-an Men c 1945……………………...61 Figure 4.14: Photo of Zheng-yang Men………………………………………………….61 Figure 4.15: Plan of Tian-an Men Square……………………………………………….63 Figure 4.16: Tian-an Men Today………………………………………………………...64 Figure 4.17: View from the Portal of Tian-an Men……………………………………...64 Figure 4.18: View from the North of Tian-an Men……………………………………...65 Figure 4.19: Changes of Courtyard House………………………………………………67 Figure 4.20: Informal Structure in the Courtyard House………………………………...68 Figure 4.21: Mid-rise Apartment of Beijing……………………………………………..69 Figure 4.22: High-rise Apartment of Beijing…………………………………………….70 Figure 4.23: Traditional Street Pattern…………………………………………………..71 Figure 4.24: The New Street Pattern of the Residential Block…………………………..71 Figure 4.25: New Residential Block propose by the Research Group…………………..72 Figure 4.26: Plan of the Proposal of new Courtyard House……………………………..72 Figure 4.27: Perspective of the New Courtyard Houses…………………………………73 vii Figure 4.28: Section of the Traditional House and the New Courtyard House…....…….73 Figure 4.29: Section of the Mid-rise and High-rise Apartment………………………….74 viii Chapter One Introduction Research Question The time has come to rebuild our cities. Since the beginning of Chinese history, Beijing has been associated with adventure, romance, and monumental, magnificent buildings. I have been impressed by the splendid order and meaning of the imperial ideal city, however, as a native of Beijing, I also have witnessed changes to the order and meaning of the ancient city plan. Early Chinese city planners and builders succeeded in creating an imperial capital of immense grandeur, a city with clear spatial order defined by five key elements: 1. boundary of city – walls, 2. the most important institutions – the Forbidden City, 3. a clear spatial organization – the north-south axial alignment and the nesting of walled enclosures one within the other, 4. the circulation system of streets, and 5. the interrelationship between the courtyard house and the city. This order reflects the elaborate system of imperial hierarchy: the meaning of the city. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese State has attempted to reconstruct a people’s capital of the socialist era that must glorify the power and dignity of the people. The spatial order of people’s capital was greatly influenced by this new ideology of the people and by functionalism, a
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