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Barely a tree can be planted on Arbor Day in concrete forest

By Ni Tao: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 19, 2012

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[By Zhou Tao/Shanghai Daily]

China's Arbor Day, which fell on March 12, is a festival for tree-huggers.

On this day citizens dramatize their commitment to environmental protection by planting trees on a massive scale. However, mass participation will predictably wane and become the privilege of a few.

Youth Daily reported on March 5 that it is increasingly difficult for ordinary folks to take up a shovel and plant trees wherever they please on Arbor Day, as space is limited and of what little land is meant for this purpose, it will mostly be reserved for officialdom. Instead, people are advised to adopt trees in botanical gardens or tend to potted plants in their apartment balconies.

Trees brighten city streets, enliven urban landscape and delight nature-starved urbanites. But as our cities grow, trees are sacrificed on the altar of urbanization, having occasionally been uprooted to make way for urban renewal projects in some Chinese cities.

As such, there is good reason to doubt that Arbor Day will still be worth celebrating in a few years.

The misfortune that's befallen China's urban shade trees also has occurred to another urban fixtures - old architecture. They are physically lifeless, but culturally they have a life of their own and literally form cities' cultural roots.

During the just-closed sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, prominent advisors have zeroed in on the problem of vanishing old architecture in urban China.

Their discussion came amid a series of media stories earlier this year about demolition of historic relics and former residences of renowned personalities for the sake of commercial development.

History flattened

"Some cities have done extensive demolition in the course of so-called renovation of old towns. Rows upon rows of historical blocks and traditional dwellings are flattened as a result," An Jiayao, a political adviser, was quoted as saying in People's Daily on March 12.

Oftentimes on their ruins rise look-alike and ever-higher skyscrapers that clutter cities' skylines. Their number is considered a sign of a city's modernity and sophistication, no matter how aesthetically unpleasing people may find them to be.

The homogeneity of urban China in terms of the same chiseled skylines and architectural styles has seriously worried experts on cultural heritage preservation like Ruan Yisan, who has for years agitated for better protection of China's architectural relics.

For Ruan, serious protection must start with government officials' realization of the fact that old towns are not a burden, an eyesore and something to be "revamped" - a euphemism for demolition.

Alas, many GDP-hungry officials cannot help but call in bulldozers to pulverize the vestiges of yesterday and usher in futuristic wonders.

Besides, a sizeable proportion of old architecture is ominously located in downtown areas, where land is precious and coveted. But it's not just crude economic impulse at work in the destruction of urban China's run-down yet quaint old architecture.

Economic expediency

Lack of love for culture is another major factor, according to famed author Feng Jicai. "If a city's leader is far less interested in culture than in achieving GDP growth, there is no way of changing his mind," he said.

Although Chinese often boast we are a nation with splendid history, history is something manipulated for political expediency - and now for economic expediency.

In the past few years, ersatz relics erected and showcased to attract tourist money have made headlines, while real heritage languished or was torn down and disposed of like trash.

This may be less of a problem in Yangtze River Delta, where a big slice of the bureaucracy and educated public heartily endorse protection of relics as urbanization continues apace and threatens the very survival of living architectural specimens.

Old buildings and sites of historical interest in the cities of Hangzhou and Yangzhou, for instance, have escaped the wrecking ball that often comes down hard on relics in other locales.

But in inland cities, where economic development usually rank much higher on officials' agendas than other concerns, it's not surprising to see gaudy architectural travesties of the White House, Palace Museum and Sydney Opera House- monumental proof of what Feng, the writer, says about some urban planners' crass taste.

When these officials plan to build a government headquarters, they simply want it big and awe-inspiring to flatter their vanity. It's no wonder that some government buildings in China happen to be the most imposing landmarks.

Recently, Liu Xirong, a former senior official at the Party's disciplinary watchdog and deputy to the National People's Congress, said there are 10 million civil servants in China, many of whom are redundant.

His remarks were quickly countered by the State Administration of Civil Service, which said the actual figure sits around 7 million and is not high relative to China's 1.3 billion population.

Whether it is 10 or 7 million should not be the bone of contention. Stories of civil servants given sinecures and feeding at the public trough are no longer news, and their ranks are bound to swell as more people vie to get stable and well-paid government jobs.

What matters is that the people populating these organizations have wisdom, especially a long view on development.

Institutional check

With no effective institutional checks on officials' power, we can hardly expect them to voluntarily halt their wasteful expenses and mindless demolition of architectural heritage.

To prevent the cultural roots of urban China from being further severed, it's crucial that local authorities approach development from a cultural perspective.

"In Hangzhou, we track the city's history dating back to Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) through relics that are preserved. In Chengdu, its Jinsha relics spanning 3,000 years make the city even more unique. The more mature a city's culture, the richer its historical records, the higher its competitiveness," said An, the political advisor.

Maybe it makes sense to talk big to city planners so as to convince them of the benefit of retaining cities' memory, rather than hastily expunging it.