The Implications of the Planning of Beijing’s Imperial Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 129 City for Sustainable Community Development The Implications of the Planning of Beijing’s Imperial City for Sustainable Hao Li Community Development Hao Li Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences Master Thesis E, in Sustainable Development, 30 credits Printed at Department of Earth Sciences, Master’s Thesis Geotryckeriet, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 2013. E, 30 credits Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 129 The Implications of the Planning of Beijing’s Imperial City for Sustainable Community Development Hao Li Supervisor: Per G. Berg Evaluator: Eva Friman Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Massive urbanization in China .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. A brief history of planning of Beijing’s imperial city ........................................................................................................ 2 1.2.1. Pre-imperial city history of Beijing ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2.2. Early history of the Imperial City of Beijing ................................................................................................................. 3 1.2.3. Principal imperial city history of Beijing ....................................................................................................................... 5 2. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.1. Aims .................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.2. Methods............................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.3. Boundary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.4. Limitations ...................................................................................................................................................................... 10 3. Inventory analysis ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 3.1. Physical resources ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.1. Geography .................................................................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.2. Climate ......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.3. Hydrology .................................................................................................................................................................... 13 3.1.4. Energy .......................................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.2. Economic resources ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 3.2.1. The population growth of Beijing in different historical peroids ................................................................................. 14 3.2.2. The Grand Canal .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2.3. The city markets in Beijing during Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties ........................................................................... 15 3.3. Biological resources ........................................................................................................................................................ 17 3.3.1. Soil and Vegetation ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 3.3.2. The Chinese gardens in Beijing during Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties .................................................................... 18 3.4. Organizational resources ................................................................................................................................................. 19 3.4.1. The city layout.............................................................................................................................................................. 19 3.4.2. The transporration system in Beijing imperial city ...................................................................................................... 22 3.5. Social resources............................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.5.1. The social system in Beijing imperial city ................................................................................................................... 23 3.5.2. The city block system in Beijing .................................................................................................................................. 24 3.6. Cultural resources ........................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.6.1. The ceremonies in Beijing daily life ............................................................................................................................ 25 3.6.2. The festivals in the Chinese calendar ........................................................................................................................... 26 3.6.3. The recreational activities for the civics ....................................................................................................................... 26 3.7. Aesthetic resources .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 3.7.1. The beauty of harmony in the city configuration of Beijing imperial city ................................................................... 27 3.7.2. The Eight Scenes of Imperial Beijing .......................................................................................................................... 29 4. Interdisciplinary analysis ................................................................................................................................................ 30 4.1. Micro level: the quadrangle and the green building ........................................................................................................ 30 4.1.1. The origin of the quadrangle ........................................................................................................................................ 30 4.1.2. The features and components of a quadrangle ............................................................................................................. 30 4.1.3. The software modelling ................................................................................................................................................ 32 4.1.4. Analysis and discussion................................................................................................................................................ 35 4.2. Macro level: the Beijing imperial city planning and the sustainable city ........................................................................ 38 4.2.1. The Fengshui theory in ancient Chinese city planning ................................................................................................. 38 4.2.2. The ecological effect of Fengshui Theory in Beijing imperial city planning ............................................................... 39 4.2.3. The implication of Beijing imperial city planning for building a sustainable city ....................................................... 41 5. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................................................... 42 6. Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................................................................ 43 7. References ......................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................................... 46 I The