Chapter 14 13. Chang'an Avenue: The Planning Controversy

In 1949, the 33-year-old architect Chen Zhanxiang arrived in Beijing.He is thin, wears a pair of glasses, speaks Ningbo dialect, and speaks English better than Mandarin. Although he is young, he is already quite famous.It is said that Fei Weimei, Fei Zhengqing's wife, once asked Liang Sicheng's second wife, Lin Zhu, that if Chen Zhanxiang was so famous, we should have heard of him long ago.Lin Zhu then told Fei Weimei Chen Zhanxiang's English name. After hearing this, Fei Weimei sighed: So it was him! Chen Zhanxiang once had the opportunity to leave the mainland.It is said that on the night when the People's Liberation Army entered Shanghai, Beethoven's symphony swayed in the night sky of Shanghai.In his residence on Hengshan Road in Shanghai, Chen Zhanxiang saw by the window that these soldiers would rather rest in the heavy rain than disturb the people. He burst into tears in a moment of excitement, and then tore up the plane ticket for leaving.I greatly appreciate Chen Zhanxiang's mentor Abercombe supporting Chen Zhanxiang's move to stay in China and go north to the capital.Because, for Abercombe, this place will be a paradise for architects and urban planners, just like the former Soviet Union.Land ownership policy and a strong government are enough to ensure that the vision of architects and urban planners is satisfied, and even his most fanciful ideas are realized.Every ambitious architect cannot resist the temptation: someone can turn your idea into reality.

It was Liang Sicheng who invited Chen Zhanxiang to Beijing.Liang Sicheng, who was nearly 50 years old, and his wife Lin Huiyin were the most famous architectural scholars and intellectuals in China at that time.Before the Communists attacked Beijing, they sent people to sneak into the city and asked Liang Sicheng to mark the buildings that needed to be protected, expressing that even if sacrifices were made, they should avoid artillery attacks on these buildings. Liang Sicheng was deeply moved.Another thing that moved Liang Sicheng was that Peng Zhen, a high-ranking member of the CCP, was able to skillfully quote the content of Liang Qichao's works.This surprised Liang Sicheng.Although the surname "Liang" once brought him great respect and glory, "Although I am the son of Liang Qichao, I am ashamed that I have not read many works of my father, but this Communist Party cadre in front of me can Reciting his works naturally made me feel close to Peng Zhen."

Liang Sicheng’s enthusiasm also comes from professional reasons, “The reason why Liang Sicheng has such ardent hopes for Nie Rongzhen and the urban construction under the leadership of the Communist Party of China stems from the policy of land nationalization in the socialist countries of the Soviet Union and the upcoming This kind of policy can provide a strong guarantee for the implementation of rich urban planning," said Dou Zhongru, Liang Sicheng's biographer. But Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang had already lost in the first battle of Beijing city planning.The battle revolves around a famous street: Chang'an Avenue.After a new regime is established, the most pressing question is where to build their capital.In Beijing, a political center with a long history, where should the new regime choose to locate its large offices?The "Liang-Chen Plan" proposed by Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang advocated building a new city outside the old city and relocating government agencies to achieve the purpose of protecting the ancient capital.However, the Soviet architect and later the Chinese architect Hua Honglan advocated building a new city on the basis of the old city.The conflict became widely known, and was accompanied by sighs and sighs.

After several debates and efforts, the "Liang-Chen Plan" was finally given up.Mao Zedong said that he hoped that he would be able to see a row of chimneys when he looked over from Tiananmen Square in the future.In that radical age, people's imagination of national prosperity was limited to chimneys, grain and steel.Architects from the Soviet Union used Moscow as a template to design the future for an ancient city.Soviet expert Balannik said in "Suggestions on Improving Beijing Municipal Municipality": "Beijing does not have a large industry, but a capital should not only be a cultural, scientific, and artistic city, but also a large industrial city." city".Mao Zedong expressed his displeasure with Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang's idea of ​​placing the administrative center outside the old city. He once said, why can't we live in the old city of Beijing where the emperor can live?It is even rumored that Mao Zedong said something about Liang Chen's new city plan that would make Liang Sicheng shudder: "I heard that a professor wants to drive us out?"

Therefore, the plan was implemented according to the proposal of Soviet experts, and new administrative buildings were built along Chang'an Avenue.The objections of Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang were invalid, although in the future many people believed that their objections were well-founded: "The construction of long-snake-style office buildings along Chang'an Avenue will increase population density and increase traffic volume. Dust and noise go together."Later, in "Chang'an Avenue: Past, Present and Future" edited by Beijing Municipal Planning Commission and Beijing Urban Planning Society, he defended the decision at that time: "However, in view of the fact that the central government was eager to build office buildings at that time, and the south of Chang'an Avenue was originally a The military training grounds of various countries, and the west side of Chongwenmen Inner Street is the airport of the Kuomintang period, which is a rare open space in the city, so in 1951, the office buildings of the public security, textile, fuel, light industry and foreign trade ministries were successively built.And Liang Sicheng did not give up putting forward his own suggestions on urban construction.In a letter to Zhou Enlai, Liang Sicheng said that on the planning of Chang'an Avenue, "the first construction project in the past two years has developed very chaotically. There is no organization, and the phenomenon of doing things in their own way is so serious that "huge and eye-catching inaccuracies" appeared on the most important streets in Beijing.

Regardless of whether this decision is correct or not, it keeps Chang'an Avenue as the most famous street in China.A series of new buildings began to appear along Chang'an Avenue.The most famous ones include the Great Hall of the People, the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the ever-changing Tiananmen Square.Among them, the Monument to the People's Heroes is the work of Liang Sicheng, Chen Zhanxiang and Lin Huiyin. It is also the first building to appear on Tiananmen Square after the establishment of the new regime in 1949.The subsequently rebuilt and reconstructed Tiananmen Gate Tower and the Tiananmen Square facing the gate tower have always been the center of political activities in China. During the May 4th Movement in 1919, the students of Peking University advanced from the Red Building of Peking University to Tiananmen Square; The grand ceremony was held here, and Mao Zedong announced on the Tiananmen Gate that the Chinese people have stood up since then; since then, the most important state events, military parades and celebrations have been held here. The Great Hall of the People, built in August 1959, is a symbol of the power of the new regime. All previous meetings of the National People's Congress, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and major state affairs events were held in the Great Hall of the People.It is precisely because of the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square that Chang'an Avenue is regarded as a very political street.Crowds gather in Tiananmen Square almost every day to watch the flag-raising and flag-lowering ceremonies held by the national flag guards.After the Tiananmen Gate Tower and the Great Hall of the People were opened to the public, countless people bought tickets to climb up the Tiananmen Gate Tower, imitating Mao Zedong’s appearance, waving their hands, and taking pictures; newly rich entrepreneurs began to hold banquets and meetings in the Great Hall of the People. An environment and food that can only be enjoyed by the country's political leaders.

The large-scale revision and construction on Chang'an Avenue has almost never stopped. In the 1950s, the Telegraph Building, the National Cultural Palace, the Office Building of the Ministry of Internal Trade, and the West Building of Beijing Hotel were built along Chang'an Avenue.Construction stalled in the 60s and 70s, but only because the whole country was at a standstill.Subsequently, in the 1980s and 1990s, with each revision of Beijing's overall urban construction plan, the planning and construction of Chang'an Street had to be adjusted accordingly. In the 1980s, the China Arts and Crafts Art Museum, the Civil Aviation Business Building, the Head Office of the People's Bank of China, the Beijing Concert Hall, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the International Hotel, and the National Customs were built along Chang'an Avenue. Well-known buildings built in the 1990s include Chang'an Club, COFCO Plaza, Henderson Center, Ministry of Communications, Oriental Plaza, International Finance Building, Central Propaganda Department, Beijing Book Building, Bank of China, etc.

People still think that Chang'an Avenue is the most politically and culturally significant street in China, but they don't notice that there are more and more famous commercial buildings appearing on both sides of this street, so that some people think that it should be planned in the future Chang'an Avenue Increase cultural buildings like museums and grand theaters, and reduce commercial buildings like bank headquarters and large commercial buildings. In 2008, the National Center for the Performing Arts, which had been planned for a long time, was built, but it caused an uproar.The National Center for the Performing Arts, designed by the famous French architect Paul Andrew, has been accused of being an alien object, a "bird egg" that ignores the style of the existing buildings on Chang'an Avenue.

In "Chang'an Street: Past, Present and Future", the editor said: "The facade of Chang'an Street is mainly composed of buildings. The buildings on Chang'an Street are the epitome of the history of the Republic. They are very iconic, and it is almost impossible not to show off. Because this is the first street in China. The controversy surrounding the buildings on Chang'an Avenue is not only the result of the collision of Eastern and Western cultures, but also a reflection of cultural diversity. Today, with the influx of Western cultures, the buildings on Chang'an Avenue are facing a dilemma. Traditional designs are considered to be lacking in modernity, and are even called 'fake antiques'; modern designs are regarded as 'Westernized', destroying the style of the ancient capital. Anyone can be a critic of Chang'an Avenue architecture, but architecture Therefore, the buildings on Chang’an Avenue are often the result of the compromise of various concepts.” This kind of statement explains the various buildings with different styles that appear on Chang’an Avenue, and can also be It is regarded as a justification for the existing plan.

In addition to the controversy over the buildings on Chang'an Avenue, the main road model that many urban planners criticized as causing traffic obstacles and the decline of businesses along the street also started on Chang'an Avenue, or at least was strengthened by Chang'an Avenue, according to Wang Jun, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency It is the critics of the Chang’an Avenue-style avenue: “Chang’an Avenue runs through the center of Beijing from east to west with a width of 120 meters. Motor vehicles are prohibited from parking on both sides of the road, and the traffic is rushing. A billboard on the side of the road warns pedestrians, ‘Going further will be condemned. In 1957, when the Beijing municipal government was discussing the width of Chang'an Avenue, Liang Sicheng, a professor at Tsinghua University, said: "It takes 11 seconds for a sprinter, and the average person It takes more than one minute to walk, and it is even more difficult for an old woman with small feet to cross this street. "Nowadays, Chang'an Avenue and its extension lines have built many underground passages and overpasses. If pedestrians do not choose to go to the sky or to the ground If you insist on crossing the road, it is considered uncivilized, and more seriously, it may be a 'deadly' behavior."

Although the continuous widening of Chang'an Avenue is precisely to solve the problem of poor traffic, it's just that this "wide and sparse" road network is just the opposite, causing Beijing's traffic dilemma today.However, the negative teaching material of Chang'an Avenue planning, the "narrow and dense" roads in western developed countries, are appreciated by today's urban planners because of the dense road network and the existence of a large number of one-way streets. In terms of traffic alone, this street has a lot of troubles. For example, because of the special status of Chang'an Street, in order to ensure the smooth flow of vehicles in the east-west direction, left-handed measures are taken at major intersections along the line, but out of necessity, some special intersections still have traffic jams. Some directions are allowed to turn left, and these vehicles occupy the green light for a long time, causing straight vehicles in the direction of Chang'an Avenue to queue up and wait for the light, which reduces the traffic capacity of the intersection; also in order to ensure traffic, empty taxis are not allowed to pass through Chang'an Street, and taxis are also prohibited on the roadside To park a car and get on and off the car, you need to enter the intersection, but there are many large commercial organizations and important government departments on both sides of Chang'an Avenue, which is the section where people urgently need to get on and off the car. Today's Chang'an Avenue is no longer what Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang imagined.However, critics still cite the words and ideas of Liang Sicheng and Chen Zhanxiang countless times. For example, Liang Sicheng advocated that architecture should consider the integration with the surrounding environment, and another example is Liang Sicheng’s opposition to the policy of the main road, and Liang Sicheng’s proposal for the old city walls and city gates. protection - these were also demolished during the expansion of Chang'an Avenue.Cities continue to grow.