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Demolition project targets historic campus
By Mu Zi (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-15 06:33
Hundreds of shabby buildings at China's most prestigious learning
establishment are to be torn down to build a major new complex.
The demolition project at the centuries-old Peking University is the largest
in its history.
It will target the northeast side of the campus, which were once royal
gardens during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
It will make way for the construction of a new international mathematics
research centre, a key institute that could help the university to squeeze into
the world's top seats of learning.
Some people have raised concern at the continued erosion of the traditional
layout of the campus.
The coming project, which will pull down hundreds of old one-storey houses in
three adjacent areas, Jingchunyuan, Langrunyuan and Quanzhai, is expected to be
completed in January 2007, said university spokesman Zhao Weimin. He said the
main body of the new building would rise up by the end of next year.
Zhao said the plan for the project has got the green light both from the
State and municipal heritage protection authorities, and was waiting for
approval from the Beijing municipal government. He did not reveal the estimated
costs for residents' resettlement and the new building.
Although the university has promised many times that the heritage in the
three areas would be protected, many people still expressed their concerns that
the coming project may destroy the original layout and landscape of the campus.
Liu Zhihong, who once studied in a building in Langrunyuan, said many old
buildings on campus had been replaced by new ones over the past few years, and
he was nostalgic for the quiet and peaceful days of the past on the old campus.
"Now the last remains of the old campus will soon disappear," Liu said sadly.
The campus of Peking University, which is located at the south of the Old
Summer Palace and the east of the existing Summer Palace, was once a famous
resort during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties.
Heritage experts say that the three areas are of great historical
significance to the campus, which itself is a heritage site under State
protection. Jingchunyuan and Langrunyuan were former gardens for princes and
princesses. And Quanzhai was built in 1920 by John Leighton Stuart, the first
president of Yanjing University, the predecessor of Peking University.
Luo Zhewen, a renowned expert in heritage protection, told the Beijing News
that cultural relics must remain intact during the demolition.
He added that the new building should also blend in with neighbouring
structures.
 (China Daily 02/15/2006 page3)
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