The last days of old Beijing : life in the backstreets of a city transformed /

A fascinating, intimate portrait of Beijing through the lens of its oldest neighborhood, Dazhalan. Meyer examines how the bonds that hold the neighborhood together are being torn by forced evictions as century-old houses and ways of life are increasingly destroyed to make way for shopping malls, the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Meyer, Michael J., 1972-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Walker & Company, [2008]
Edition:1st U.S. ed.
Subjects:
Table of Contents:
  • Through the front gate
  • Becoming teacher plumblossom
  • Mocky & me
  • "Say farewell to dangerous housing"
  • Wintertime
  • A brief history of part one: traces of pre-Beijing
  • The evening news
  • High times in happiness city
  • Preserving a sense of place
  • Springtime
  • A brief history of part two: the rise and fall of Imperial Beijing
  • The unslumming slum
  • Saving the old street
  • A summer of recycling
  • Past tense vs. future tense
  • A brief history of part three: the modernization of Republican Beijing
  • Miss Zhu remembers the trees
  • "If someone is sick and you do not aid him, it is your fault, not his"
  • The widow's story
  • A brief history of part four: the industrialization of Maoist Beijing
  • Echo wall.