Trying to save the old Beijing
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As we wandered in quiet Beizongbu Hutong, I received a call from Japan-based scholar Yao Yuan, an advocate for preservation of Nanjing's relics. Yao said, "Do you know that most buildings around the hutong where you are standing have been saved by Wang Jun through his writings?"
Seldom does a journalist work with as much determination and passion as Wang, who spent six years reading the complete archives related to the Beijing Capital City Planning Commission.
"I've collected valuable, unpublished archives containing millions of words," Wang says. "I've typed every word - it's important to collect first-hand information yourself."
As the result of 10 years' research, including 50 personal interviews with officials, planners and scholars, his first book "Beijing Record" (2003) described the challenge of balancing the protection of cultural heritage and the pressure for modern development. The book shot to the top of the best-seller list, was reprinted 11 times, won numerous awards and ignited a fire storm of debate.
The book begins with the current realities of Beijing and records the history of urban construction over the past 50 years, interwoven with life stories and anecdotes about architects and planners, including Liang and Chen.
"I really don't know what prompted me to write this book, impetuosity or God's will," recalls Wang.
In 2001 Tsinghua University invited him to submit a paper for a symposium marking the centenary of Liang Sicheng's birth. Shortly afterward, Liang's widow Lin Zhu (who married Liang after Lin Huiyin died in 1955) called him, urging him to "hurry up, otherwise you'll be too late."
"So I began writing and to my own surprise barely one week had passed before I put down somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 words and I still couldn't stop wielding my pen," says Wang. "That period of history I was writing about was indeed so significant, with myriad social changes, with the rise and fall of so many individuals, which made it a real challenge to record."
"Beijing Record" was based on this article, which received powerful positive reactions from historical preservation circles. Again pushed by Liang's widow Lin, Wang is now working on a new book titled "Liang Sicheng."
He plans to write about the influence of two men on Liang's life - his famous scholar father Liang Qichao and Chairman Mao Zedong. Liang's son Liang Congjie died last year.
Liang's widow Lin in her 80s gave him all her husband's archives.
"But she feared she would not be around to read the book so I must hurry up, otherwise I'll be too late," says Wang, looking at Liang's tumbledown yard in Beizongbu Hutong in Beijing.
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