Cultural Note

In China, the Chinese word for culture translates roughly into "building-people." As I walk or bus around Yantai, the main thing I see is buildings. There are large apartment buildings, cookie cutter replicas of a certainly functional model of living. There are large banks, mega structures wreathed in glass and shiny stone and metal, models of modern industry and commerce. There are small one story buildings, dirty and shabby, with a plethora of goods housed in a compact space, models of efficiency and brevity. There are old world hutong buildings, remnants of past culture and lifestyle, painted with colorful paints, and plastered with traditional Chinese characters and symbols of fortune, prosperity and longevity. I see broad three and four story buildings filled with every imaginable good for a particular purpose. If I had to put it down to one thing, I would say Chinese culture is very compartmental. Apartments are a certain kind of building, banks another, hutongs another, and commercial retail buildings another. Chinese don't waste space. Every retail store is packed to the gills with goods. Every apartment is brimming with addons, extensions, and modifications. If a building is just taking up space, it will soon be gone.

Another notable Chinese cultural item is the difference between insides and outsides. I first took notice of it when I was with a friend. The outside of buildings are rarely cleaned or paid attention to. As soon as you go inside the building are clean and highly organized. There is a sort of minimalistic theme that what can be used efficiently should be used to the greatest extent, and what cannot be maintained efficiently should be left at the mercy of nature. I think that in this way, many Chinese resent the modern industrial style of building. These large concrete buildings are not designed with the kind of natural elegance and weather-loving design that a traditional Chinese building has. Traditional walls and buildings are made to last, and they are designed to get dirty on the outside while looking natural and elegant, and remain clean on the inside. I will rarely see a wood floor in a Chinese building. Most floors are tile or concrete. These kinds are cleaned efficiently with water and soap. If you look at many second generation industrial buildings, you will find that the exterior is covered with tile, perhaps an attempt to transfer ease of maintenance to the outside. The most modern buildings are made of glass and painted steel.

Looking to the future, I see a sharp return to traditional motifs of Chinese culture on the horizon. I think Chinese people are calling for more traditional buildings with modern designs, to improve the visual aesthetic of their cities and improve the cost of building traditional style buildings. I heard recently that many Chinese are upset that the earthquake regions were cultured with flimsy buildings made to make a quick buck. This model is a very un-Chinese model, and I have a sense that it has much more to do with the influence of late Qing Dynasty imperial foreign officials than it has to do with the post Qing Dynastic global China. Global China is focuses on what it does best and the foreseeable outcome that the skills and intellect of the Chinese people are in much demand, thus, the buildings should have a Chinese informed design, with modern materials and modern financing. When I go to Beijing, I will check out the new buildings constructed over the past 8 years, and that will be where the rubber of my ideas meats the road of reality.