A Question of Preservation

With emotions running high in Hong Kong over the preservation of our city’s “heritage”, the questions must be asked, what really constitutes heritage? And what do we have that is really worth preserving for future generations? Central was once full of architectural treasures but removing many of the grand Victorian edifices simply made way for a new city to be developed in place of these beautiful but often impractical low-density buildings. Few would argue that the city which grew in place of these original structures helped turn Hong Kong into one of the world’s most important business capitals, providing the community with wealth and opportunities for many.

Outside of the business district the former Sai Ying Pun mental hospital could surely have been preserved as a shining example of our past architectural glory. After all, how do we teach new generations about the past if all traces of it have been removed, to be replaced many times with unimaginative residential buildings that serve little purpose other than to improve the developer’s bottom line. But what about Queen’s Pier in Central? Neither particularly old and definitely not majestic in stature, preservation at the cost of future progress makes little sense either. Given our city’s need to maintain growth, improve the community with new assets and now to retain a real link with our past, PRC decided to look north to the city of Tianjin, a city whose past is gloriously preserved with many incredible buildings representing the dynamic nature of the city’s history but a city like Hong Kong that also looks to the future knowing that to develop, some of its past must surely give way. The question is, how much and what exactly is worth preserving?

On June 13th 2005 in Portsmouth, England, an antique iron bell, snatched by the crew of HMS Orlando in 1900 as a war trophy during the Boxer Rebellion, was being returned to China in a ceremony attended by government representatives from both countries, giving a symbolic closure to the Sino-British conflict which arose more than a century ago. Just two feet tall, the bell was hung high overlooking the Dagu Fort, a naval outpost guarding the route from the Bohai Sea to Beijing, the imperial capital. The fact that the military artefact was taken by the invaders, signified the beginning of the end for the crumbling Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.). Yet in the midst of all that pillaging and plundering, an important centre for international trade and industry in East Asia was being built. Traces of its past glory have survived the ravages of time, war and natural disasters. Tianjin, conceived in turmoil and humiliation, now shines as the “World Museum of Architecture” attracting almost a million visitors each year.

Founded in December 1404, Tianjin (literally “heavenly ford”) was named as such after a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) crown prince crossed what is now called Haihe River on the way to Beijing to stage a coup, which was successful. The new emperor then designated the once desolate yet auspicious coastal town as Tianjin wei (literally “garrison of the regal crossing”). With the Bohai Sea to the east, the Grand Canal to the south, and Beijing to the northwest in close proximity, Tianjin shielded the imperial seat from maritime military threats and doubled as a transportation node through which supplies from the abundant south were delivered to the capital. Even in its pre-colonial days Tianjin had a strategic role to fill.

With the advent of guns and cannons the strategic advantage of Tianjin became moot, and in 1859 it fell to the Anglo-French forces that eventually shot and burned their way into Beijing, driving the young emperor Tongzhi and his mother, the infamous Empress Dowager out of the Forbidden Palace. The mayhem concluded with the third unequal treaty in modern Chinese history, the Treaty of Peking, which stipulated that Tianjin was to be opened up for foreign trade. Since then Tianjin was the centre for business in all descriptions, including, of course, the lucrative trade in opium, some of which ironically ended up in the imperial palace to be consumed in secret by brooding concubines and eunuchs who needed the drug to wash away the drudgery of their daily existence.

Evidence of European presence is found mainly on Jiefang Lu, dubbed the “Wall Street of Tianjin”, and what is now called the Five Avenues in the heart of Tianjin. Like Hong Kong’s Central and the Peak, these two areas were the starting point of colonial settlement which radiated outwards to cover more districts along the Haihe River, which cuts through the city in a north-south orientation. Britain was the first to set up its concession where its nationals enjoyed extraterritorial rights. The French and the Americans shortly followed suit. In the ensuing two decades, six more foreign powers established their concessions: Japan, Germany, Russia, Italy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Population rose rapidly from 440,000 in 1840 to 600,000 by 1896. Legations, banks and major trading houses were built to the contemporary European aesthetics. A walk along Jiefang Lu yields a magnificent sight of edifices of solemn grandeur, featuring imposing Roman columns and Ionic pillars on the frontage of buildings such as the former offices of the HSBC and the China-France Bank of Industry and Commerce. Other foreign institutions along Jiefang Lu had the same stately presence but in an array of different styles; from Beaux-Arts Classical to Italian Renaissance, from Gothic to Neo-Baroque, and everything in between. Formerly the major thoroughfare joining the British, American, French and German concessions, Jiefang Lu is now home to financial, municipal and academic institutions which operate from the same premises which had similar functions.

About fifteen minutes walk towards the southeast the scene changes dramatically as one enters what is called the Five Avenues. This neighbourhood, which actually covers six major streets – Chengdu Lu, Chongqing Lu, Changde Lu, Dali Lu, Munan Lu and Machang Lu, was a marshy wasteland within the British concession. Between 1919 and 1926 the construction department of the British cession used silts from Haihe River to fill up the area and built roads there. Since then mansions and villas were built. Curiously enough the mansions, which enjoyed quiet seclusion in the tree-lined streets, were occupied mostly by affluent Chinese rather than westerners. The residential hall of fame included ousted imperial descendents, warlords on the run as well as literary rising stars at the time. These smaller, more delicate mansions have enjoyed the kind of prestige accorded to traditional landmarks such as the courtyard houses in Beijing. In fact, even Mao Zedong, who condoned the xenophobic Cultural Revolution, once publicly stated that the courtyard houses in Beijing and the western-style mansions in Tianjin were China’s architectural treasures that must be preserved at all costs.

Such mansions can also be found outside the Five Avenues. The former Italian concession in the Hebei district along the north-eastern bank of Haihe River, offers a completely different sight. In contrast with the low-key and quiet Five Avenues half-hidden in shadows of trees and built in a irregularly shaped network of streets, the former Italian concession features wider streets lined with bright pastel mansions. Here, the focal point is the Dante Square, immediately announcing the identity of the former occupants as visitors enter the neighbourhood.

The return route south along Haihe River to Dagu Lu leads to the commercial district which joins the former financial district of Jiefang Lu and the residential Five Avenues. Here was where Europeans first settled and as a result, tailors, barbers, restaurateurs and publicans set up their businesses. The most famous landmarks are the Quanye Department Store and the former Tientsin Land Investment Company complex, both with Post-Renaissance / Late Stylist sensibilities. The meeting point of various foreign concessions, this area was once the nightlife hotspot for sailors – especially the Americans – in search of licentious pleasures, teeming with bars, cabaret clubs and brothels. Between the 1920’s and 1940’s, White Russians and Russian Jews fleeing Soviet persecution entered China through Manchuria in the northeast and somehow found their niche of comfort in this neighbourhood. With favourable conditions under the British jurisdiction they were able to run solicitor’s offices, ballet schools, Russian delicatessens; all making enormous contribution to the prosperity of this district and offering modern generations a vivid and very real connection to the past as well as enhancing the cultural value of Tianjin’s community of today.

In Tianjin every old building tells a story, as the city itself was founded in an epoch of instability which, ironically, also gave it the distinguishing cosmopolitan transformation. Instead of bitter nationalism, conservatory attitude prevails. The Tianjin Municipality has issued a decree expressly stipulating measures mitigating the decimation of these historic edifices. Also in place are planning laws encouraging new buildings to have similar designs as the old ones, ensuring aesthetic consistency of the cityscape. A walk around Tianjin is indeed very much like a visit to a history museum, the visual cues being the stunning architecture carrying its colourful past. Perhaps before Hong Kong people get too emotionally charged about the preservation of Queen’s Pier they should travel north to the city of Tianjin and see first-hand for themselves which parts of a city’s past offer real value to the communities of today.

Travel tips: Daily departures from Hong Kong to Tianjin, flight time approximately
three hours. Non-Chinese nationals must obtain a visa, available at the China
Travel Service offices throughout Hong Kong. For further information, please visit: www.ctshk.com