Shanghai surprise.SIR: I was disappointed with Robert Turnbull's View From Shanghai (AR December 2004, p30), not only with its blatant factual errors but more so with the basis of judgement. In my 2003 article on the same city (AR February 2003, p30), I was at pains to correct the trend in popular mainstream architectural press to turn reportage on China into grotesque grotesque In architecture and decorative art, a mural or sculptural decoration combining animal, human, and plant forms. The word derives from the Italian grottesco, in reference to the grottolike underground rooms (grotte) where such ornaments were found during the us-and-them cliches. Mr Turnbull's view of Shanghai through the singular lens of aesthetics belies the more potent reality of Shanghai as an urban phenomenon fraught with ironies and messy endings. The propensity to single out individual buildings for subjective analysis only perpetuates the object-fascination which is a misrepresentation misrepresentation In law, any false or misleading expression of fact, usually with the intent to deceive or defraud. It most commonly occurs in insurance and real-estate contracts. False advertising may also constitute misrepresentation. of architecture's place in the world. The preservation debate makes such issues readily accessible, for it is here where Shanghai can be seen to be managing its balance of cultural values and modernization modernization Transformation of a society from a rural and agrarian condition to a secular, urban, and industrial one. It is closely linked with industrialization. As societies modernize, the individual becomes increasingly important, gradually replacing the family, . The patchiness patch·y adj. patch·i·er, patch·i·est 1. Made up of or marked by patches: patchy trousers. 2. of the results reflects the complexity of the situation which cannot be accounted for with such glib references to tourist dollars or 'historic charm'. That said, Xintiandi was not the 'brainchild' of a single man, but a negotiated process involving, most notably, SOM, an open-minded Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. developer, and architect Ben Woods who is actually based in the States. The shikumen it reconstructed is a dying breed in a city which is destroying all but some high quality stock in central areas. And the Chinese City reported as being 'virtually intact' was last year already being replanned, subdivided and schemed with thirty-storey housing complexes. Shanghai really deserves better treatment than this. Yours etc DARRYL CHEN Chen - Peter Chen London, UK |
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