Portrait of an LBX

By Andy

The government seeks “leap-frog” development of Tibet by raising infrastructure quality and agricultural incomes to national levels by 2020, Xinhua news agency said, citing comments from senior Chinese leaders at a meeting earlier in the week. (Reuters)

Admirable enough, right?

The CCP sees development as a cure-all for stability and unchallenged rule in China — after all, most people are concerned with how much is in their wallets, not who is ruling them. For most of the country this has worked like a charm. Despite a rapidly widening gap between urban and rural income levels in China, almost everyone we have run into is perfectly content just to be doing a little better this year than last and is certain things will only get better (as if it is a constant of the universe).

The Jokhang Temple at the heart of traditional Lhasa.

But throughout this trip we have seen what rapid development has done to a beautiful and diverse country and culture. There is little awareness of the value of cultural preservation among the peasants occupying many of China’s most beautiful and historic areas. As some of our readers have commented, their current homes are cold and leaky, and they are envious of newly constructed concrete boxes with running water and sealed roofs. Aesthetics is the last thing on their minds. But that doesn’t mean there is no case for preservation. Once the majority of Chinese are well enough off to worry about quality of life in addition to a paycheck, I believe the country will come to the realization that it was a mistake to destroy so much of their own culture and history in the name of development, just as citizens of other countries have realized the same about their own homelands. This is already happening on a small scale in China’s major urban centers, but for the most part it is already too late there. (more…)

A Uighur man stands on a pile of rubble in Kashgar's rapidly disappearing old town.

By Andy

We probably won’t be making it to Tibet or Xinjiang on this journey — the distances are simply too vast. A year seems like a long time to spend on a bicycle until you set the goal of circumnavigating a country of China’s size in that time frame. Evan’s recent post on our walk through the Tangyin old town got me thinking about my time in Xinjiang last year, and particularly in Kashgar, an old Silk Road trading town with a vibrant traditional section.

There is an apparent mindset among the Chinese leadership that anything of cultural and/or historical value in this country must simply be wiped out and as quickly as possible. Kashgar’s old town is a prominent target. A recent article in the Global Post puts a softer edge on what we on this blog would tend to describe as cultural rape:

Kashgar’s Old City is also an anomaly in modern China: A well-preserved, relatively untouched section of ancient but living architecture. Most of China’s cities have undergone sweeping facelifts amid the country’s economic boom, but the Old City of Kashgar, a small piece of the larger city of more than 3 million residents, is set off from modern city by a river and hills, distinctly unique and almost out-of-place.

A Uighur man hired to clear the rubble of Kashgar's old town tosses bricks into a dump truck.

I think part of this appetite for destruction stems from an incomprehensibly skewed incentive system for local officials. Despite years of promises for reform by the center, local government officials are still evaluated primarily on their ability to generate gross domestic product (GDP) growth. All other worries — the environment, quality of life, cultural and historical relics — are cast aside unless they can be easily harnessed and transformed into GDP growth.

This has all sorts of horrible implications, but I think one of the most interesting is the real estate industry. As most everyone is probably aware, despite thirty years of “reform and opening,” all land in China is still owned by the state (or by the “people,” as the state will tell you). In China’s cities you can own an apartment (read: a little concrete box way up in the sky), but the land on which the apartment building sits is owned by the state. Citizens can “lease” land for anywhere between 30 and a hundred years depending on the situation. Peasants generally till land on 30-year leases. (more…)

By Andy

Via Evan, I recently became acquainted with an article by Peter Hessler from the June 2007 issue of National Geographic titled China’s Instant Cities and an accompanying set of photos by Mark Leong. In the piece, which is highly reminiscent of what we are trying to do with our trip but written with the benefit of extensive amounts of time spent with the people he interviews, Hessler writes about one of China’s numerous, newly created industrial zones.

The story, which Hessler writes primarily from the perspective of a factory manufacturing bra rings in the boom town of Lishui, Zhejiang, touches on many of the themes that have been evolving throughout our own trip, most notably the frantic rush for development at the cost of quality, aesthetics, culture and just about any other positive concept you can think of. The story’s subheading rings particularly true:

China is in the fast lane, ignoring every speed limit. Cities spread like a cartographic contagion. (more…)