Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 3.1
Views on three milestones in the construction of Beijing City
1
Forbidden City (Palace Museum),
2
Tian'anmen Square,
3
National Olympic Sports Center
core of the Beijing City construction under the rule of feudal dynasties and being a
masterpiece in China's traditional art of architecture as well. Up to now it still erects
at the center of the spatial structure of the whole city, but it is not only the art wealth
of the Chinese people but has been classifi ed as the 'World Cultural Heritage' with
global reputation also.
The Second Milestone is the Tian'anmen Square which symbolizes outstand-
ingly that a new age has arrived after the founding of New China. It has gifted the
middle axis of the whole city of long tradition with wholly new signifi cance, refl ect-
ing the age characteristics of 'making the past serve the present; weeding through
the old to bring forth the new' in city construction and the special meaning of inher-
iting the past and ushering in the future in cultural tradition.
The Third Milestone, as mentioned above, is that in the beginning it was only due to
the convening of the Asian Games and the construction of the National Olympic Sports
Center that it started showing the arrival of the age of Beijing marching towards an
international metropolis. The fi rst time I openly put forward this idea was May 14, 1991
when I was making a report at the academic discussion in Architectural College, Qinghua
University. At that time I only indicated it orally and did not write in the text of speech.
2
Now 3 years have passed. Facing the twenty-fi rst century and inheriting the fi ne
tradition of various master plans since the 1950s, the latest Master Plan of Beijing
City has further put forward the new target of establishing the modern international
2
Please refer to Zhu Wenyi's “A Theory of Urban Design” for further account in
Space, Symbol
and City
(in Chinese), China Building Industry Press, 1993, p. 248.
