60 years of history is not a long time for a country, but for a specific person living in this country, it is already more than three-quarters of his entire life (the average Chinese Life expectancy is 72 years).Perhaps later historians have explained this period of history otherwise, but for those who have lived through these 60 years of history and are living in this continuous history, the importance of these 60 years cannot be overestimated. This is their history, this country is where their personal emotions intertwine.So trying to tell them which landmarks were so important during these 60 years that they had to be included in this book describing landmarks, without censure, is an almost impossible task, just as in the current financial crisis In a crisis, it's the same as asking an economist to pinpoint exactly when a market bottom appears.There will always be those who will be disappointed to find that certain choices and arguments diverge significantly from their personal views.In order to ask the forgiveness of those sentiments which may be offended, I would like to state as clearly as possible my personal thoughts on the matter.

In general, my way of thinking is that I hope that through the selection of 60 landmarks, I can outline the growth trajectory of this country for 60 years.In my mind, it's like a jigsaw puzzle.You're going to use 60 landmarks to piece together an image of an entire country.It's just that this jigsaw puzzle isn't flat and physical, it's temporal and linear -- and history, as it is, can only progress linearly. I chose Nanjing Presidential Palace as a start.The Nanjing Presidential Palace embodies a lot of history before the founding of the Republic. It is also the office of the central government of the Kuomintang. Therefore, although many very symbolic events and places with symbolic significance occurred in 1949, I still choose to The Nanjing Presidential Palace is a starting point for the history of the Republic. One end of it is connected to the past, and the other end is connected to the history of the Republic that is about to begin.

Next, my way of thinking is as follows: a newly established regime and country, what are the problems that it needs to face, and then start from these problems to find those iconic locations.Undoubtedly, among the most pressing issues are: issues of international relations, where the legitimacy of a nascent state needs to be recognized by all nations of the world; and territorial issues, when a state is first established, where its grip is loosest is on the far frontiers ; the problem of building up the army and military industry; and the problem of restoring the national economy devastated by the war.

This led to several initial landmark choices.Lhasa and Yijiangshan Island correspond to the Tibet issue and Taiwan issue respectively; the Yalu River corresponds to international relations, and it was also a war confrontation between the socialist camp and the capitalist camp; Lop Nur is a landmark of military and industrial construction.These landmarks have a profound impact on the subsequent history and the reality we live in.For example, the attack on Yijiangshan Island disintegrated the Kuomintang’s island defense line against mainland China, but it made the United States more deeply involved in the Taiwan Strait issue; after the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Sino-US relations have of course entered a freezing point.

More profound changes took place in the field of socialist construction.We can observe the evolution of economic construction after the founding of the People’s Republic of China from the two clues of agriculture and industry—economic construction is not just economic construction, the material base determines the superstructure, which also includes such things as the reorganization of the social structure. question. On agricultural issues, from Changzhi, Suiping, Xushui, Dazhai, to Xiaogang, these landmarks actually constitute a relatively clear line, from which we can see the evolution of China's rural land system and production organization.For example, among the policies implemented by the Chinese Communist Party in the base areas before 1949, the policies of "strike the local tyrants and divide the land" and "land to the tiller" are the most easily remembered.As various parts of China were liberated, this policy was also implemented in rural areas.This is one of the best ways to get support from farmers.However, since the land has been divided, how did the collective ownership of rural land come about today?This line will answer the question.In Shanxi, five years after the "land reform" was completed, the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee discovered that there were some problems that must be paid attention to, that is, the reappearance of the concentration of land and the gap between the rich and the poor among farmers, which we can all understand today, but at that time From the perspective of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, this problem is very serious.So they started the agricultural cooperative experiment in Changzhi, in order to shake the private ownership of land property rights and eliminate the gap between the rich and the poor.The countryside and agriculture further developed in this direction, and the satellite communes began to appear in Suiping, Henan, and then to the climax of the satellite communes, Xushui, Hebei wanted to "run into communism."This is the socialist transformation of agriculture and the countryside. The property rights system and social structure and organization of the entire Chinese countryside have undergone changes.The star of this is Dazhai.

The evolution of this clue also follows the changes of the landmarks of the Republic. Xiaogang in 1978 became a star because it disintegrated the commune system of collective labor and collective distribution, but it did not have a transformative effect on the rural property rights system.Subsequently, new rural landmarks such as Daqiuzhuang, Nanjie Village, and Huaxi Village emerged in the era of reform and opening up. Their commonality is to bypass the reform of land ownership and rely on "industry" and "business" to get rich.For example, Nanjie Village is a reaction against Xiaogang’s “contract work”, but it also understands the law summed up by Yu Zuomin, Wu Renbao and sociologist Fei Xiaotong, “No work, no wealth”.From the changes of rural star landmarks around 1978, such as from Dazhai to Huaxi Village, we can already see the changes of the times.

Then there is an industrial and commercial thread.The early star landmarks were all large state-owned enterprises and heavy industries.For example, the First Automobile Factory in Daqing and Changchun, Tiexi in Shenyang, and Panzhihua during the third-line construction period—from FAW to Panzhihua, the changes in it can also reflect the changes in the international situation facing China. FAW was established in Changchun, Because it is close to the Soviet Union, it is convenient to obtain technical support and assistance. Panzhihua and Shiyan, another automobile city in Hubei Province during the third-front period, should be completely far away from the Soviet Union and the United States, and away from possible war threats. During the third-front construction period, Sino-Soviet relations have cooled.As far as private business is concerned, in 1956 on Nanjing West Road, the three giants including Rong Yiren walked into the Sino-Soviet Friendship Building, and voluntarily expressed their acceptance of the socialist transformation of industry and commerce, and the private economy began to decline. In contrast, the public economy flourished .This clue also advances and evolves with the changes of star landmarks.For example, after the end of the Mao Zedong era, the star landmarks in terms of industry and commerce were places with developed private economy such as Liushi in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, Zhongguancun in Beijing, and Yiwu in Zhejiang; Hanzheng Street, Nanjing West Road, Zhongying Street, etc. Place became the star of the opening years.Another notable change is "opening up". Shekou became the first special zone to attract investment and became a landmark at that time. The White Swan Hotel in Beijing and the China World Trade Center in Beijing were famous projects that attracted investment at that time.The state-owned enterprises that had once had a bright future were in trouble at this time, but the issue of property rights was still taboo. This is why Zhucheng's reform of state-owned enterprises in 1994 caused an uproar.We also want to "modernize" our financial system, so the Shanghai Stock Exchange was born.

As for the clue of international relations, it has not been presented as important as economic construction in the selection of landmarks.Because in the past 60 years of history, our diplomacy was first one-sided, then closed, and then the strategy of hiding our strength and biding our time advocated by Deng Xiaoping. Generally speaking, this country seems to be an "introverted" country.The most important turning point in this thread is the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. The State Guest House has received many important guests, including Che Guevara and Khrushchev, but none of them are as significant as Kissinger's staying here.By the time Boao became a landmark, the world was already discussing the rise of China. At this time, China was also trying to find its own new positioning in diplomacy. proposed on the forum.

Another clue to the generation of landmarks is the large projects of various periods, such as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, the Hongqi Canal, and the Sanmenxia Reservoir in the Mao Zedong era, and then the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Three Gorges Project.These landmarks should be the most undisputed.In addition, there are some "nodes" and major disasters in the evolution of each thread.Nodes such as Lushan, Lushan has held countless meetings, but the "Lushan meeting" must refer to the meeting in 1959, China has since completely turned left; such as Tiananmen in 1976, Tiananmen has played many nodes, such as the "May 4th Movement" ", and the "Fourth Five-Year Movement" in 1976 was undoubtedly a node, because after that, the well-known events such as the smashing of the "Gang of Four" and Deng Xiaoping's comeback occurred.Major disasters such as the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 and the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008 coincided that these two years were also eventful years for China.

There is another important thread, which I personally believe has been overlooked by writers, journalists, and historians describing historical change, and that is urban planning and architecture.Architects and architectural critics know that architecture and urban planning are the professions most closely associated with power.Therefore, I did not choose to write about Chang'an Avenue from a political perspective, but urban planning.This was the most urgent problem facing the city after the founding of the People's Republic of China.Looking at it today, urban planning and architecture are actually an important clue to understanding the changes in this country.The development of Pudong is an achievement of economic construction, but it is also a very important step in urban planning. Nowadays, almost all new city constructions in various cities in China use Pudong as a model and blueprint.In this regard, while the economy is developing, people are starting to argue, must modernization be at the expense of old cities and old buildings?Under this kind of debate, different choices such as Shanghai Xintiandi, Pingyao and Lijiang have emerged.I even chose new buildings including the new CCTV building as the final ending of the 60-year landmark. What particularly moved me was the two words of Rem Koolhaas, the architect who designed the CCTV building. mother's cultural background", another saying is "architecture always goes to the new world, not back to the old world", because in my opinion, this country is also like this, it wants to get rid of the heavy shackles of the past, and go to the future , rather than stuck in the past.

The above discussions are all thinking at the starting point, and then follow the starting point to evolve.The choice of another part of the landmarks is just the opposite. It is to think at the current node and think about the new problems and challenges that the country is facing-of course, these new landmarks are actually the result of the evolution of the above-mentioned clues.On the issue of economic development model, I chose Dalian and Dalian Software Park.Dalian and Dalian Software Park did not choose the manufacturing industry that many cities choose as the pillar of economic development, but chose the software industry with high added value and no pollution. This is a new thinking for many cities in China.For the economic development and environmental pollution problems we are facing, I chose Taihu Lake. This beautiful lake is surrounded by the most economically developed cities and towns in China. However, industrial pollution and poor governance caused Taihu Lake to have a major outbreak in 2007, which directly endangered to human drinking water.On the issue of China's political reform that many people have been discussing, I chose Pingchang. This is the first county in China to conduct direct elections for township-level party committees. It is also regarded as a window to observe China's political reform. Some people even call it a The "Xiaogang" of reform in the political field; Boao is a landmark to face the rise of China and Asia; Chongming Island is a landmark to consider the immigration issue of the Three Gorges Project; Alashan is how China's emerging entrepreneurial class fulfills their social responsibilities a landmark... I personally think that the puzzle of these landmarks can finally present a big picture of the 60 years of the People's Republic of China, from which we can see the past and present of our country, the "main theme" of each period of the past and present, and the past and present The various problems faced and the evolution of these problems.I hope that in the future, a brand new China will appear on the puzzle of each landmark.Mr. Fei Xiaotong's words 70 years ago can be used as the end of this preface: "However, in their ruins, internal conflicts and costly struggles will eventually come to an end. A brand new China will emerge from the ruins On. It is my sincere hope that future generations will applaud us with understanding and sympathy for facing the problems of our time. We can only live up to all the sacrifices and suffering we have endured if we work together, see our goals clearly, and look to the future. "