Beijing's Transformation

BEIJING 'S TRANSFORMATION

From a walled city to a modern metropolitan , from a closed culture to globalization and from ancient teashops to modern cafeterias and from birdcages to subways the road to modernity has been a very long one for Beijing . There is a plethora of driving forces for the drastic changes that Beijing has undergone . There are huge contradictions about the way common people react to these changes and about how the new Beijing measures up to their vision of their city . This dilemma of choosing between tradition and modernity , between

old values and new ethics and between age old culture and the world , is not unique to Beijing Developing countries , particularly oriental ones , are often faced with these difficult choices on the road to progress . The choice has to be made and made judiciously

Beijing 's cultural ethos is very closely related to the walls which were symbolic of so many things in Beijing 's culture , such as social status direction , space , class , privacy and even prejudices . The changes that took place in the mindsets of people who were at helm , and the changes that were responsible for Beijing 's new look , can be tracked through the treatment meted out to these walls in different eras . The city was earlier enclosed within walls and the courtyards were separated from each other by walls . The walls contributed to Beijing 's mystery and charm that was part and parcel of its magnificence . But the first step towards modernization of Beijing was the flattening of these walls which had stood for so long as a symbol of Chinese culture in vogue in Beijing at that time . Right after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 , the onslaught of modernization was brought on and the walls were the first to feel the brunt of this modernization . The walls were pulled down to make way for fast tracks and western style buildings . This was the beginning of the end of old Beijing with its aura , cultural heritage and glorious history

Mao , in association with Soviet communists who had money , technical know-how and a vision , laid out extensive plans for the modernization and industrialization of Beijing . Though the Soviet Union and China fell apart in 1960 , the foundation of the plans had already been laid and the modernization proceeded on similar lines . Factories were built in and around Beijing in large numbers . Rural agricultural faced a setback because the peasants abandoned the villages in to join the urban work force . Worker 's settlements sprang up like mushrooms and Beijing became a modern industrial city of the world . The air which was earlier pure and healthy , now became smoky and has till now not been able to regain its earlier freshness . The walls now symbolized feudalistic attitudes to the new generation who were more for rapid industrialization . Hence the remaining walls , temples , courtyards teahouses and pleasure houses , were sheared down . Their place was taken by dull and drab official buildings , standardized stores...