Old Nanjing is recognized by city officials as being a place of cultural heritage...and perhaps more important, cultural commodification. While I was living there, a space near my house next to the Qinhuai River underwent major transformations every few months: from homes, to a demolition site, to a parking lot, to a construction site. Next to the lot, a big fancy government office of 江苏版权交易中心 or "Jiangsu Province Copyright Transaction Center", which I was told was where the government distributed rights to buy and sell the rights to cultural commodities (like entrance tickets to cultural sites).
Here is the transformation of the lot during my time here:
OCTOBER:
 |
| Copyright Trade Center building under construction |
 |
| Thrift store |
 |
| Chai- the Chinese character for "demolish", a marking on one of the buildings set to be demolished in the coming weeks |
 |
| One of the houses slated for demolition |
 |
| The street in front of the demolition site was a popular place to sell street food |
DECEMBER:
 |
| This huge pile of rubble appeared in front of the demolition site one day |
JANUARY:
 |
| Progress on the Copyright Trade Center |
 |
| The wall hiding the demolition was knocked down... |
 |
| ...and a new wall was built a few days later. |
 |
| Demolition continued (this is what was going on behind the wall) |
FEBRUARY:
 |
| Progress continues |
MARCH:
 |
| Opening day for the new Copyright Trade Center |
 |
| Turns out that the site was being cleared to serve as a parking lot |
 |
| Government officials came for the big opening day |
 |
| Police officers kept watch |
 |
| All the rubble has been cleared away... a hasty official ushered me away right after this picture was taken, telling me to go away and put my camera away. |
JUNE:
 |
| Construction started back up in the summer |
 |
| The propaganda reads: “Construction in the lot... |
 |
| ...brings inconvenience... |
 |
| ...please forgive |
No comments:
Post a Comment