Dans la ville chinoise, regards sur la mutation d’un empire

Not everything is always said. While Dans la ville chinoise, the large exhibition at the Cité de l’architecture, is interesting given the number of movies, archive images, models (the colossal one of current Beijing), it remains,for obvious diplomatic reasons, very «politically correct». One remains unsatisfied as to the massive destruction of the hutongs (the traditional dwellings in Beijing) or regarding the effect on the urban structure of the colossal migration from the countryside to the cities. The catalogue tries to fill in this gap. First of all it eliminates the prejudice according to which Orientals do not care about ancient constructions and prefer rebuilding indefinitely the same buildings with new materials. The attachment they have to their «heritage» can be compared to ours but the needs imposed by economic growth have led planners to ruthlessly raze the older neighborhoods and to relocate the residents beyond the 4th or 5e ring road. The life of the mingong, the hoards of country-city dwellers, is presented without any cover. And while they continue to use specialist to chose the site and orientation of the building, the authoritarian slogan of the olympic games, «I participate, I am happy, I sacrifice », could raise the real question: until when will the Chinese city be able to sacrifice its past?

• Dans la ville chinoise, regards sur la mutation d’un empire directed by Frédéric Edelman, Françoise Ged and Yves Kirchner, 2008, co-edited by Cité de l’architecture / CCCB de Barcelone, éditions Actar, 350 p., 42 €, ISBN : 978-849-695457-1

• Also to be read, the second catalogue Positions, portrait d’une nouvelle génération d’architectes chinois (Positions and portrait of a new generation of Chinese architects), 224 p., 32 €