ChinaTeacher

Hangzhou’s urban development is proceeding at a dizzying pace.  Entire apartment blocks of 7-storey buildings are being torn down to make way for China’s beloved skyscrapers!  What’s amazing to me is the speed with which it is all happening.  Today I noticed yet another block of buildings being torn down – this particular neighbourhood was still inhabited by Chinese families as recently as last month!  I keep wondering -where is everyone relocating to, as a result of being ‘torn’ out of their homes!

The process of building demolition continues to astound me as well.  While bulldozers tear down the roofs, walls and foundations of the taller buildings, local labourers work on the shorter buildings manually.  It’s back-breaking work as they swing their pickaxes and attempt to blast through the brick walls and foundations.  Squatting nearby, others patiently chip away the old concrete off each brick with their trowels, placing the bricks one-by-one in piles once they are deemed ready for use again.  It’s slow, tedious work and for little reward (as far as I can see).  After the entire block has been cleared away, these same workers start erecting a huge ‘brick wall’ around the construction site, using those same bricks.  They finish off by plastering it over with concrete (in place of metal fences we use in the West).  Product Advertisements will be handpainted onto the walls by a couple of local artists who will be paid very little – labour is so cheap here that it’s cheaper for companies to do this than create some print advertisements – unbelievable!

Last year, I enjoyed visiting a neighbourhood located close to my university.  It’s a very poor community, primarily senior residents, but they were lucky, I thought, to have a nice independent life so close to downtown Hangzhou.  I particularly liked the architecture of their homes, which can usually only be found in small villages out in the countryside.

The sad news is that when I went back last Autumn, the entire neighbourhood was a huge pile of rubble, with bulldozers all over the site.  I was stunned – I had honestly expected Hangzhou to restore this area.  Unfortunately, the Chinese people prefer to tear down the old and put up ‘new’, or ‘newly restored’ buildings (they make them look old).  I have attached pictures of the old neighbourhood for you to see even though now it’s gone (I’m certainly glad I took those pictures when I did!).  I still wonder where those local people have gone.  I really can’t see them being happy, living in a skyscraper and losing the independence of living in their own homes next to the Grand Canal.

According to Chinese legend, Hangzhou is considered ‘Paradise on Earth’.  I must admit that by Chinese standards, Hangzhou really IS a wonderful place to live.  Hangzhou strives to be China’s cleanest city, most environmentally-friendly city, as well as its greenest city.  It’s definitely on track to being all these things.  I just wish that the Chinese would stop destroying so much of their history in their push to create a modern lifestyle for their people.  I fear they are losing their identity by adopting so much of the West.

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