On the current urban construction and the protection of ancient buildings

The Significance of Ancient Architecture

In the middle of last century, Professor Liang Sicheng of Tsinghua University and his wife Lin, with Don Quixote-like courage, fought fiercely for the protection of historical sites in Beijing. However, few people understood their good intentions at that time. More than half a century has passed, and the Kyoto Castle they once hoped to keep has changed beyond recognition. However, why did Professor Liang take pains to persuade government officials to adopt his blueprint for urban planning? What is the significance of protecting Beijing's historic sites?

When discussing the protection of ancient cities, most commentary articles fail to touch the essence of the problem. It seems that the protection of cultural relics and historic sites has always been a slogan and declaration, and no one has theoretically revealed the significance of protecting cultural relics. Why should we protect ancient buildings? What are the values of these old houses today? Looking up the article, I only saw the comment: "These monuments have extremely precious historical value." So, what is this so-called value? What is the definition of historical value? Theoretically, it is difficult for us to literally understand the real purpose of protecting historical sites and cultural relics. From a practical point of view, the real value of these cultural relics seems to lie only in their market prices and the value of historical research materials.

Let's first observe the attitude of western culture towards ancient buildings. The greatest characteristics and values of all cities in Europe are ancient and modern. There are castles preserved in the Middle Ages and the most avant-garde contemporary buildings. In this way, there are two parallel main lines to record history and culture: one is written history, and the other is architecture from ancient times to the present. They complement each other, face to face in time and space, eloquently clear and integrated. Therefore, abstract words and intuitive buildings constitute a "history of civilization" that can be imagined through thinking or directly touched. In Europe, what people feel most strongly is the culture and history reflected by ancient and modern buildings. Through these direct sensory stimuli, we can clearly understand the connotation and core of western culture. But why do Europeans attach so much importance to their cultural heritage and urban monuments? Is there any theoretical basis?

We know that human beings are the product of culture. Without culture, there would be no human and civilization. Since culture is so important to human beings, is there any key internal connection between the two? Starting from the scientific analysis method, we first assume that human beings live by culture. Then we will prove this hypothesis.

When discussing this hypothesis, we must define "culture". Edward tylor, a famous British anthropologist (1832- 19 17) published his classic book < < primitive culture > > in1> which is defined as "culture is a series of things that can be learned (imitated). He believes that culture is a "tool", which includes knowledge, belief, law, morality, tradition and so on. Culture is a very "fragile" phenomenon, because it changes all the time and easily disappears. For example, language, as a part of culture, can easily die out in the course of history.

In fact, culture is the sum of human thinking and behavior, and it can even be regarded as a kind of "technology". The emergence, development and survival of human beings depend entirely on their own cultures. Therefore, culture as a technology can be learned and disseminated. The most prominent symbol of culture is language, such as Italian, Chinese and Arabic. The obvious signs of these cultures can be used to clearly distinguish the differences between cultures. In addition, there are traditions, customs, religions and costumes. Among them, custom belongs to behavior and religion belongs to thinking, both of which are important parts of culture.

Since everyone in society depends on culture for survival, culture is of great significance to mankind. From a psychological point of view, culture is directly related to people's spiritual support and internal self-esteem. Culture is not only a tool and technology needed for survival, but its more important significance lies in providing national self-identity and social belonging. Everyone must strongly identify with their own culture, so as to gain enough psychological strength and sense of security.

Therefore, a person's psychological resilience is directly proportional to his sense of identity with his own culture. If a person (or a nation) loses its cultural identity, it will lose its spirit, sense of security, self-confidence and self-esteem. Thus losing imagination and creativity. Because of this, culture is very important to human beings.

As mentioned above, culture is very fragile, especially in the rapidly developing contemporary era. Many cultures easily lose their traditions and beliefs under the oppression and exclusion of powerful cultures. For example, Indians in North America lost their languages, traditions and beliefs in all directions under the invasion of European culture. The lack of mother culture leads to the loss of spirit and self-confidence. Therefore, an important part of human activities is to create, develop, strengthen and enrich one's own culture.

One of the reasons why culture is changeable is that it only exists in people's consciousness. And architecture, knowledge, language, all man-made things are just products of culture. As a tool and technology, culture can only be mastered by human beings (some scholars think that animals also have culture). Therefore, archaeology cannot directly excavate culture. Those relics of civilization are only a reflection of cultural patterns.

One of the most effective ways for human beings to create, develop and consolidate their own culture is through urban architecture. Because architecture can vividly express culture and prove the existence of culture (culture in consciousness is invisible). People can directly perceive and identify with their own culture through this physical image. The emergence of early civilization was entirely based on the establishment of cities. It is precisely because of the easy loss of culture that human beings record the civilization and culture that have happened by building buildings and landmarks that live much longer than human beings. This way of recording culture is more vivid than words. Because people can experience and understand their own cultural connotation in the environment of ancient buildings. Written records are usually abstract and concrete. But architecture can accommodate the soul of culture. This is beyond words. Therefore, ancient architecture is a carrier of cultural spirit.

For example, pilgrims to the holy land must rely on building entities, not words. Jews go to Jerusalem and Buddhists go to temples, which are typical examples. Because these places are the location of the soul and spirit they are looking for. Destroy these holy places, and people will lose the place to feel the soul. Human architecture provides itself with the residence of cultural soul. Destroy it, people will lose their souls from now on, thus feeling uneasy, anxious, suspicious, losing confidence, pride, and even losing their own ideas and morality. Therefore ... human beings understand the meaning of culture and regard any building containing their own culture as life. They deeply know that classical architecture is a monument engraved with their own history and a temple of cultural soul. With these Millennium-immortal buildings, culture can be precipitated and accumulated, and it can last forever. It can even be used to resist the invasion of foreign cultures. So, they spend everything they have to protect every brick and tile in the historic site.

Anyone who has seen the old movie "Ghosts Journey to the West" will remember that there will be signs in the old house. After a long time, a long history and many stories, there will be souls in the attic and wall bricks of ancient buildings. Even if it is shipped from a long distance, as long as the main body of the house is still there, the soul will always be attached to it. Walking into this ancient house, you will feel the heart and imagine its history. If you build an imitation villa as it is, you won't feel this way anyway. This means the same thing as antique. Destroy old houses or smash antiques, and the "soul" that has been attached to buildings for many years will fly away. This is why fakes and imitations are worthless. American cultural institutions once took a fancy to an old house in the south of China. They spent a lot of money to transport it to America, including bricks and tiles. Moreover, it was nailed down in a foreign land and built intact.

Many people in China don't understand why they don't make a replica. If it was in China, it would be incredible. As a result, tearing down old houses and duplicating new ones are rampant in China. Compared with Europe and America, such as Venice, funded by the government and international cultural organizations, it goes from east to west all year round, endlessly restoring the Millennium-old houses. Their purpose is clear: to protect the soul of Italian culture hidden in these ancient buildings. Why don't we understand this concept?

It is worth considering that there are some differences between old houses and historical sites. Houses are generally small-scale dwellings, and most historical sites include palaces, shrines, temples, churches, cemeteries, castles, city walls and so on. In many world-famous cities, cultural protection is definitely not only aimed at historical sites, such as the Colosseum in Rome and the Louvre. The greater protection lies in the old houses. They are connected in an orderly way in the center of every city, adjacent to each other, forming a group of urban buildings. More importantly, they are still the main buildings where urban people live. The residents there have lived here for generations and are deeply influenced by these buildings in culture. There are many academic papers about the psychological influence of architecture on people. For example, when people move from quadrangles to high-rise apartments, their relationship, psychology and behavior have changed greatly. This change also belongs to a cultural change.

Some people in the architectural circles in China believe that the reason why the ancient buildings in China are not well preserved is the building materials. Because the main materials of historical buildings in China are artificial bricks and wood, while western buildings are natural rocks. Because the former is easy to weather and the latter is strong, the western architecture is far better preserved than China. This statement is completely self-explanatory and meaningless. The protection of ancient buildings depends entirely on people's consciousness rather than matter. Most of the old houses in Massachusetts are brick and wood structures, but they have been intact for more than 200 years due to long-term maintenance and protection. The towers, signboards and city walls in Beijing are definitely not dangerous buildings with weathering and aging. They were completely destroyed by humans. When it was demolished, it was still strong and intact. If protected, it can stand for thousands of years.

When I was young, I lived in Dongcheng, Beijing, near Dongzhimen. The tower is simple and carefree, with blue bricks and yellow tiles, natural and unrestrained, grass on the wall, floating in the wind, sunset and pigeons whispering, which is unforgettable so far. Who said she would collapse if her materials were poor? Without modern bulldozers, how can it be done overnight? The material statement is bullshit!

The author thinks that Chinese academic circles lack theoretical understanding of ancient buildings. The purpose of cultural relics protection is only limited to its market value and national subordinate status because of its rarity. Not from the perspective of cultural identity.

Recording history, showing culture, supporting the soul, providing recognition and enhancing self-confidence are the real meaning and value of ancient buildings. Without ancient buildings, you will lose your own culture. Isn't it? Now that you are back in Beijing, you can't feel the profound China culture. This is completely different from the feeling of the French returning to Paris.

Ancient buildings are temples and churches of human cultural beliefs. Only in front of these temples do you know who you are.