The last days of old Beijing
Subtitle: life in the vanishing backstreets of a city transformed
By: Michael Meyer.
Edition: 1st U.S. ed.
Publisher: Walker & Company
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 355
ISBN-13: 9780802716521
Subjects: Alleys -- China -- Beijing; Streets -- China -- Beijing -- History; Urban renewal -- China -- Beijing; Beijing (China) -- Social life and customs
Description: A fascinating, intimate portrait of Beijing through the lens of its oldest neighborhood, Dazhalan. Meyer examines how the bonds that hold the neighborhood together are being torn by forced evictions as century-old houses and ways of life are increasingly destroyed to make way for shopping malls, the capital's first Wal-Mart, high-rise buildings, and widened streets for cars replacing bicycles. Beijing has gone through this cycle many times, as Meyer reveals, but never with the kind of dislocation and overturning of its storied culture now occurring as the city prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [331]-339) and index.
Table of contents: title: Through the front gate; title: Becoming teacher plumblossom; title: Mocky & me; title: "Say farewell to dangerous housing"; title: Wintertime; title: A brief history of part one: traces of pre-Beijing; title: The evening news; title: High times in happiness city; title: Preserving a sense of place; title: Springtime; title: A brief history of part two: the rise and fall of Imperial Beijing; title: The unslumming slum; title: Saving the old street; title: A summer of recycling; title: Past tense vs. future tense; title: A brief history of part three: the modernization of Republican Beijing; title: Miss Zhu remembers the trees; title: "If someone is sick and you do not aid him, it is your fault, not his"; title: The widow's story; title: A brief history of part four: the industrialization of Maoist Beijing; title: Echo wall.