How should we confront, reconcile with and live with the heritagised past in the built form, if said past is politically and historically contentious?
Sited in Yuanming Yuan, a former imperial summer palace in Beijing destroyed in 1860 during the Second Opium War by the Anglo-French Expedition, the project seeks to realise the multiple potentialities of national heritage through active use. Since the 2000s, the meaning of Yuanming Yuan has been increasingly monopolised by the Chinese party-state for anti-foreign propaganda, in the name of heritage conservation. The way in which the ruins of Yuanming Yuan are curated and consumed has brewed a revanchist nationalism that is difficult to contain.
As a response, the project proposes to return the ruins of Yuanming Yuan to the local population, allowing people to reconcile with a dark chapter of national history through the active reuse of the ruins, which form a symbiotic relationship with the inhabitants and their interventions. By literally dwelling on the past, we embark on a journey to de-monumentalise our heritagised past, so that we no longer dwell on the past as slaves to the past.
Yuanming Yuan shall be returned to the local people and to nature. The project asserts that active use is the best way to protect. A series of protective structures may be erected atop the ruins, forming a new roofscape that responds to the locations of various ruin sites within Yuanming Yuan.
The intervention serves as a protective shelter for the ruins, whereas the ruins not only provide structural support but also become active parts of the inhabitants’ daily lives.
The ruins of Xieqiqu are occupied by local residents of Haidian, who integrate the ruins into a bathhouse, a gateball court, a lido and a breakfast shop, all of which serve all inhabitants of Yuanming Yuan. The inerventiions redefine the interior and exterior of the space in a way that is different from the former building destroyed in 1860.
Atop Haiyan Tang's ruins, university members erect a building for collective living, using the same principles but in a more controlled manner on a larger scale. Over time, the building becomes partly ruined and is used for agricultural activities.
Atop the ruins of Fangwaiguan, a group of residents erect their house and open an electronics repair shop, becoming the caretakers of the ruins. As Yuanming Yuan is gradually turned into farmland and returned to nature, the structure is converted to a shrine for the villagers.
On and on the Great River rolls, bending east away.
滚滚长江东逝水
Of proud and gallant heroes its white-tops leave no trace,
Of proud and gallant heroes its white-tops leave no trace,
浪花淘尽英雄
As right and wrong, pride and fall turn all at once unreal.
As right and wrong, pride and fall turn all at once unreal.
是非成败转头空
Yet ever the green hills stay
Yet ever the green hills stay
青山依旧在
To blaze in the west-waning day.
To blaze in the west-waning day.
几度夕阳红
Fishers and woodsmen comb the river isles.
白发渔樵江渚上
White-crowned, they’ve seen enough of spring and autumn tide
White-crowned, they’ve seen enough of spring and autumn tide
惯看秋月春风
To make good company over the wine jar,
To make good company over the wine jar,
一壶浊酒喜相逢
Where many a famed event
Where many a famed event
古今多少事
Provides their merriment.
Provides their merriment.
都付笑谈中
- Yang Shen (Ming Dynasty), transl. Moss Roberts
