Chinese Architecture, Old and New | Hacker News Reader

Chinese Architecture, Old and New

theatlantic.com

114 pointsthingummywut26 comments

As a side note, I love the slideshow UI. The keyboard navigation (j/k or left/right) brings each picture flush against the top of the screen. I hate when I need to manually scroll down to bring the picture into full view and hide the navigation boilerplate, especially when a site uses full page refreshes instead of ajax. Unlike more interactive slideshows, this page still works normally without javascript or if the user just prefers scrolling.

I've been living in China for the past 4 months and plan on staying until May. It really is two different worlds. Having traveled through the more modern cities (Shanghai and Beijing for example) and contrasting those to Hangzhou that I'm currently in, it truly is marvelous to see the progress and more importantly the WHY to all this. The Chinese culture and gives one a fresh outlook on life. I would recommend anyone and everyone to take a trip here, it is really inexpensive and very much worth it.

Looking at the pictures, I actually felt the opposite of "a fresh outlook on life"!

Contrasting the old and the new, I feel like the fake Thames town, the roman columns, the gaudiness of all the buildings loses a lot of the old Chinese culture: the designs of the old and how they relate to the philosophy of the past... but now there's a lot of fake touristy stuff to cover up where the Chinese actually came from.

Anyways, there's no right or wrong here, I just found it interesting =)

The funny thing is that Chinese think exactly the opposite. For them, the fake touristy stuff are the old buildings and traditional Chinese architecture. It reminds me of people who visit Canada and want to see the real Canada: the remote farms, igloos and virgin forests. For us Canadians, it's a bit ridiculous.

But if you look at the adobe housing in Kashgar that is getting torn down for garish apartment blocks, its very depressing (tip: go see Kashgar now before its too late!).

My favorite is when they tear down the old and rebuild a "new old town" like in Lijiang or Fenghuang, or even when the "renovate" sections of the great wall. You can tell its fake, and it feels like Disney Land. But there is still a lot of old architecture left, people in China still "live like that;" e.g. its not totally ridiculous to expect real hutongs in Beijing.

Perhaps they'll build a "Canada town" in Inner Mongolia, complete with virgin forests, igloos, and totem poles.

Foreign governments make it very hard for Chinese citizens to travel abroad (not to mention their own government doing the same thing to them, once they rise to a certain level). Solution? Build replicas of the things so they can see them in China instead.

That's true as well. For example, Window of the World in Shenzhen is a theme park entirely dedicated to that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_of_the_World

I meant as in you get a new perspective after all that you experience here. You're right though, no right or wrong here. Cheers!

Is it necessary to speak the language to get by for a couple weeks?

It really depends where you go. If you're in the big cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hefei, etc.), you'll be fine without Chinese. If you go into more rural areas, Chinese would certainly help, but you'll certainly still be able to buy food, live in hotels, and ask for directions (look for the younger crowd; they've had mandatory English classes).

You need some Chinese to get around in Beijing. Shanghai is much better, however. First time I've heard of Hefei referred to as a tier 1 city!

Thanks for the info, both of you. Much appreciated!

I'm living in Guangzhou at the moment, you could get by here with only English, and only a couple of hours by train to Hong Kong.

Not at all. As long as you know the ones you'll be using a lot (food, water, thank you, how much, etc.) you'll be more than fine. Honestly, all you need is body language. I actually have a couple of Korean friends whom I whent out to eat with and without us having a common language. This was back when I knew very little mandarin.

Book your flight and go. Hit me up if you need anything!

It can be very difficult here to get by without knowing chinese unless you live in a foreigner-friendly area (i.e. a tourist area or near a university).

I'd suggest using a tour company if you want to travel more widely. Having a translator at least would be very valuable.

I know very few expats in China who can really speak Chinese. I've been here for about 2 years (Shenzhen) and barely know a few words. You should at least make a Chinese friend who can help you out when you really need it.

#12 "An emblem decorates the pavement" ?? Excuse me, that's Roman Imperial emblem. I hope the journalist just skipping that for the sake of copy, rather than ignorance.

Since the picture is described as "inside a building designed to look like a Roman Colosseum", I think the viewer can probably figure that out.

So many contradictions. So many sorrows. So much progress. So many regrets. So much ignorance. So many hopes. So many disappointments. So much glamour. So much denial. So many inconsistencies. So China...

I just visited Shenzhen for the first time and was quite overwhelmed by the scale of construction that's going on in China.

This timelapse video does a good job of capturing that feeling: https://vimeo.com/53043267

I wonder how many Chinese can afford to live in any of these new buildings.

Some context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbDeS_mXMnM

Unfortunately, many "historic" buildings in China are not. They are not reconstructed but destroyed and cheaply rebuild in concrete and then painted. Be it historic pagodas, city walls, monuments, temples, etc. Quickly build it so that it looks old and then make money from tourism. Its a shame.

[Lived in China six years, traveled the country for another six months]

I dont like all the new fancy-schmancy stuff. These cities are going to end up looking like any other modern/western city anywhere. No character left. Is anyone looking out for historically significant buildings ?

Love the library, and how it doesn't use/have electricity.

Wow, picture 9 looks straight out of an Orwell story.

You mean the Road to Wigan Pier?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Wigan_Pier

Reply on news.ycombinator.com