Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 4
From Beijing to Washington—A
Contemplation in the Concept
of Municipal Planning
4.1
Recommendation of the Topic
Beijing and Washington are two capital cities with totally different social systems.
The design and planning of the two cities have their unique features respectively.
Chronologically, there is a long interval between their initial constructions, yet their
design and planning both refl ect the depth of their own cultural and historical back-
ground. The original plan of old Beijing is a masterpiece of city planning in feudal
China, while the plan of Washington inherits the elegance of the sixteenth-century
Renaissance tradition and the graceful urban design of Western Europe, and is a
marvellous specimen of the achievement in the era of rising capitalism.
China, after the lapse of feudal dynasties, suffered from the oppression of semi-
colonialism and semi-feudalism. She is now in the era of socialist construction.
America, on the other hand, is a highly developed capitalist nation, still following
