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��Home>>China Observer
Shanghai the int'l metropolis is losing Chinese characteristics
www.chinanews.cn 2006-06-26 14:41:22
Chinanews, Shanghai, June 26 - Gu Xiaoming, a professor at the department
of history in Fudan University, said that as an international metropolis
promoted by China, Shanghai has few Chinese characteristics. In the
process of striving to become an "oriental Manhattan" and "oriental
Broadway," the city is losing its own characteristics.
Splendid Shanghai is undoubtedly a wonderful city. From "oriental Paris"
in the early 20th century to the most developed cultural center in the
Chinese mainland, Shanghai is always China's fashion landmark. However,
it is "wonderful" but not "classic." From an involuntary colony in the
beginning to intentional hot spot afterwards, it seems that fashion in
Shanghai is accompanied by "westernization." It is westernization that
has brought Shanghai prosperity, but at the same time, it has deprived
Shanghai of its original oriental culture. As a result, some people opine
that Shanghai cannot be called an international metropolis because it
does not have a soul of its own under its beautiful copied-from-abroad
appearance.
Shanghai was a metropolis envied by the whole world in the early 20th
century. It was the center of the Far East region in terms of business,
trade, finance, culture and fashion and was therefore called the
"oriental Paris." Since reforms and opening-up, Shanghai has recovered
its great ambition and vows to become an international metropolis again
in the backdrop of rapid economic development on the mainland.
Nevertheless, at present, aspiring Shanghai is still miles away from an
international metropolis.
In Gu Xiaoming's opinion, a really international metropolis should first
have a showcase, namely, it ought to show the outside world China's
multifarious and diversified cultures and all sorts of Chinese ethnic
cultures should be found in Shanghai. An international metropolis should
heartily welcome traditional culture accumulated from real life. However,
Shanghai fails to do a satisfactory job in this aspect and even cannot be
compared with Beijing.
Gu said that when planning to build nine towns with foreign flavors, the
Shanghai municipal government chose western styles including Italy,
Germany, Britain and Canada but did not intend to build small towns with
Arabian, Iranian, Thai and South Korean features. This demonstrates that
Shanghai only target cultures of developed western countries and admire
those countries but does not open itself to international cultures which
are the real sediments of culture accumulated over the ages.
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