“Preserved Architecture, Sustainable Crowds, and Manageable Traffic: The Story of What Beijing Could Have Been,” The Beijinger

My column on Liang Sicheng for the September/October issue of The Beijinger.

Preserved Architecture, Sustainable Crowds, and Manageable Traffic: The Story of What Beijing Could Have Been

In December 1949, Liang and Chen presented their plan to a conference of Communist Party functionaries and Soviet technical advisors. The two architects were all but laughed out of the room as the conference attendees pursued an alternate vision of transforming the center of Beijing from a wasteland of crumbling feudal structures to a gleaming hub of Socialist industrial development.