Developers Demolish Home of Revered Architects

Liang Sicheng is known as the “father of Chinese architecture.” He and his architect wife, Lin Huiyin, lived in an ancient courtyard home in Beijing from which they fought for the preservation of Beijing’s historic sites. Their home was demolished over the Lunar New Year holiday. The Guardian reports:

It was knocked down by developers over the lunar New Year, despite the fact it is rare for labourers to work during the festival, raising suspicions that the company hoped to avoid publicity.

A Beijing official told state news agency Xinhua the firm wanted to prevent the residence being harmed during last week’s holiday, apparently referring to the fireworks which are let off.

Other Chinese media quoted an unidentified developer as saying that the demolition was “in preparation for maintaining the heritage site” because the buildings were in bad condition.

But heritage protection activist Zeng Yizhi – who alerted city officials to the demolition – said they should have repaired the buildings.

“Liang and Lin made such a great contribution to the protection of Chinese ancient buildings. If their home can be torn down, then developers can do the same thing to hundreds of other ancient houses in the country,” he told China Daily.

CDT EBOOKS

Subscribe to CDT

SUPPORT CDT

Browsers Unbounded by Lantern

Now, you can combat internet censorship in a new way: by toggling the switch below while browsing China Digital Times, you can provide a secure "bridge" for people who want to freely access information. This open-source project is powered by Lantern, know more about this project.

Google Ads 1

Giving Assistant

Google Ads 2

Anti-censorship Tools

Life Without Walls

Click on the image to download Firefly for circumvention

Open popup
X

Welcome back!

CDT is a non-profit media site, and we need your support. Your contribution will help us provide more translations, breaking news, and other content you love.