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Neighborhood Analysis: Central Shiqiao
Wenfei Luo
INTRODUCTION
With the western suburb, southern suburb, eastern villages and sprawl, and Northern
Shiqiao surrounding it, Central Shiqiao is the commercial, political, cultural center of Shiqiao
Town, Panyu District, located in Guangzhou City, Guang Dong Province in South China. It is
northerly bounded by Shi Lian Avenue (Ping Kang Road), easterly by Guang Hua Avenue,
Southerly bounded by Chang Ti Avenue, and westerly bounded by Xi Li Road (San Tang
Street). West End is the cultural and historical center of the neighborhood. Qing He Ave, the
main path in the map, which runs from east to northwest of the neighborhood, is the most
important transport junction and the most frequently used street in the neighborhood; the most
east section of the neighborhood is lately developed, being less occupied than the central and
west region of the neighborhood, while it contains residential area, Panyu Square and Panyu
District Government. The mid-east of the neighborhood is occupied by residential dwellings, and
less commercial buildings. The middle and mid-west of the neighborhood is the densest area
with multiple uses including famous schools located in its south, the busiest commercial area in
its north, and residential buildings in the east. Qing He Ave, being the central avenue of the
neighborhood, connects the main administrations, the main transportation junction as the
entrance to Central Shiqiao that locates in the east end, to the most developed and densest area in
the west end. Panyu District was once an independent city and benefited from its location—
being the geological center among Macao, Hong Kong, and Guang Zhou, before it was annexed
to Guang Zhou City and became one of the 10 districts in 2002.
Central Shiqiao is a lively neighborhood with a long history of food culture and
trading culture, as it is called “the home of fish and rice,” and it was further urbanized and
expanded owing to the Reform and Opening-up policy which was carried out in 1978.
Urbanization enabled more primary uses to occur in the neighborhood—schools, commerce,
cultural center, and dwellings. However, following the urbanization, the later mass produced
housing projects and the unstopping immigrant waves imply the sprawling of the urban
environment, featured by the severe pollution problem and traffic crowds that affect the west end,
and the semi-slumming community taking over the East End. We should be warned by the
history of American urban development history and devote our effort to preserving our precious
built environment before it is wiped out by the dead cold structures and replaced by an empty
heart of “downtown.” However, the probability of this “dark” future is minimal, firstly because
Panyu District contains many small and introverted villages within it that would not allow
suburban environment to take over. Secondly, the cultural bonding of Shiqiao is much stronger
than it seems to be, and most of the local people will still treasure the sense of home that they
can find in the Central Shiqiao. Thus Central Shiqiao will predictably continue its role as the
district center, while the surrounding mixture of old villages and suburban built environment
might be threatened and therefore might reduce the effective supports from the radiating minor
focuses for the center of the district.
The Boundary of the
Neighborhood
1984 Qing He Ave
HISTORY
Panyu County, with the history of 2215 years, was found in Qin Dynasty--214 BCE.
In Ancient times Panyu County included most of the current cities in south Guang Dong
Province. At that time, Guang Zhou was also included in Panyu County. Panyu had always been
a significant treaty port of China in the many Dynasties. It’s the famous “Home of Fish and Rice”
because it’s easy to get seafood and to plant grain in the area.
In 1921, Guang Zhou was found as a City, and surrounding rural towns have been
annexed to the City of Guang Zhou one after another. By then Panyu was no longer a county,
since it was annexed to Guang Zhou City as Panyu District. Shiqiao has been the political center
of Panyu since 1945. As a coastal city, Guangzhou was the first city in china that encounterd
modernism.
It has been more than one thousand years since Shiqiao was found in North Song
(960 CE to 1127 CE). At the beginning of Shiqiao’s history, a stone gate scripted Shiqiao Shi
was located at the intersection of Da Bei Road, Dong Chong Road, Da Dong Road and Qiao
Dong Road. Therefore people used to name the place Shiqiao. During late Qing Dynasty,
township was defined and thus the town Hall which was located on Shui Bian Wu Down Street,
Guang Ming Nan Road, in Tian Xin Community, was named Shiqiao Town Hall. Tian Xin
Community is located at the west end of the neighborhood, to the northeast of Zhong Yuan High
School. Shi Qiao Town Hall was demolished in 1992 and streets have been built.
During the Republic of China Era (1912-1949), Shiqiao was renamed as Shiqiao
Village, which was the First Class District Environ. Shiqiao has been the political center of
Panyu since the founding of People’s Republic of China (1949-). In 1950, Shiqiao was
annexed to Panyu District and became one of the towns in Panyu District. During the People’s
Commune Era (1958-1964), Shiqiao was named “Shiqiao’s People’s Commune” temporarily.
The old Shiqiao Town was surrounded by Shiqiao’s four rivers--Shiqiao River, Dong
Chong (East River), Xi Chong (West River), Bei Chong (North River). Among them East River
was taken over by roads in Republic Era, and North River was altered to underground channel in
1984. The West River and Shiqiao River (South end) define the edges of the neighborhood. In
1995’s urban development, 200 residential houses which were built above West River were
demolished, and Chang Ti Xi Road was built around the edge of Shiqiao.
Therefore, from Ming and Qing Dynasty to mid-20th century, Shiqiao historically
developed along Shiqiao River, which is a branch of Pearl River. In the early 20th Century, local
stores with upper residential rooms (Qi Lou) were built along Shiqiao River. In the Mid-20th
Century, big landlord like Li Lang Ji built his palace, Qun Yuan in the west end, facing the River.
Since 1978, Shiqiao was opened to global trading and was modernized. In late 20th
century,
urban planning emerged in the central Shiqiao, featured by the development radiating from Qing
He Ave.
SHIQIAO
South Shiqiao is the densest area in Shiqiao town; it is occupied by nearly 80,000
residents and transients. While most of the people living in the area are residents who were born
in here, rooted in the Cantonese culture, nearly half of them were immigrants from other cities of
the Guang Dong Province decades ago or their parents were immigrants from those cities
speaking in different dialects. The minority in the neighborhood are the people who came from
different provinces and rarely use Cantonese during their stay. Among the minor people, some of
them are middle class who have stable and decent jobs in the area, and they are also capable of
providing their children with the best education in the neighborhood—which is in the central and
west region. The rest of the minor people came from the rural areas outside of Guang Dong
Province; they work as the lower class labors in factories, therefore can’t afford to live in the
central region. Some of them rent apartments in the east end of the neighborhood. Usually only
original Cantonese and those middle class Guang Dong fellows who immigrated for decades can
offer to own properties by themselves since Real Estate became a main industry in china. Private
owned properties include houses and apartment units; most of the apartments in the central area
are purchased instead of being rented, while some of the apartment owners may rent their units
to transients for money.
Since the neighborhood is the critical cultural and economic center of the town
culture and the district, the land has been urbanized and planned for decades, therefore it has
been densely occupied since 1990s. There are some early planned small housing projects in the
center of the neighborhood, but most planned housing projects were executed in the East End, or
outside of the neighborhood in Southern Suburb.
Most of the local residents in the neighborhood keep static social economic status as
the local middle class. Due to the trading culture, most of the local Cantonese people prefer
starting their own businesses than working in a company. Since Panyu is a significan treaty port,
great opportunities for trading, investigation in real estate, and opening small enterprises were
offered in between 1980s and 1990s since China has been open to global trading in 1978 for the
first time, thus part of the local people have successfully earned a fortune during 1990s and
1980s. There are people who earned a fortune by evading taxes and smuggling because of the
leak of law in the beginning of Opening. These people have transformed from lower class to
middle class and upper class. Locals who didn’t earn a fortune during that time became middle
class as they began to own their own property (apartment units or houses).
One local family that we know for years first rented a 60 square meters apartment
unit outside of the neighborhood in 1990s, moved to a 90 square meters apartment unit inner
neighborhood in 2000, and several years later they purchased a 180 square meters unit in a mass
produced project for middle class in Southern Suburb.
During 1970s and 1980s, official jobs were distributed to people who owned
bachelor degree according to the policy—the first generation of bachelors since Opening-Up
have been offered the positions of school teachers, institutional or municipal officers, mariners,
and engineers in nationalized company, etc. This job distributing policy ended in 1990s since
expansion of university education began.
Job distribution policy was the biggest reason of the first wave of Guang Dong
immigrants launched in Shiqiao because many properly-educated citizens from other cities were
offered jobs and apartments in Shiqiao. Since Job Distribution policy came to an end, free job
market appeals more less-educated labors to work in Shiqiao. The second wave of immigrants
was driven by money and the higher living quality in the city.
For the 1960s generation, owning a home was made possible for the first time due to
Job Distribution and apartment distribution policy. The main wave of urbanization was fostered
by this policy as well. Since 2000, more and more factories appeared in Shiqiao, thus tons of
immigrant labors arrived. Those factories were run by those people who earned their first fortune
during Job Distribution Era, including local owners and immigrant owners who are mostly from
the same province of Guang Dong (I prefer to call them Guang Dong fellows instead of
immigrants. By immigrants I mean those who came from the other provinces in china.)
Therefore, the second wave of urbanization was fostered by Guang Dong fellows, local
entrepreneurs and the mass of immigrant labors since 2000.
As more and more immigrant labors from undeveloped rural areas came to the city,
local people gradually feel the unsafety in the public area, since crimes happen more frequently
in the area. To local residents, the transient immigrant labors are slum people; people do not feel
safe in the neighborhood because the transients are wandering among us. The immigrant labors
also earn a bad reputation for ruining the environment of the neighborhood; without higher
education and suffering from poverty, they do ruin to the public sanitation of the public realm by
throwing garbage on the streets, spitting on the street and buses, etc. Those immigrants have
been transforming the neighborhood from a local based cantonese neighborhood to a
neighborhood where people tend to reduce using Cantonese in official teaching and when store
owners sell their products, by using mandarin instead.
Many residents may consider the past two decades as a downward for our living
environment. Nowadays the water of the river that goes around our neighborhood is in the worst
condition ever because of pollution—the horrible smell and the darkened color of the liquid
below the bridge never failed to catch my attention when I went to high school. In the past
decade, the neighborhood went through a change of less opportunity in local business, while
more and more undefined immigrant labors surround. Average income remains likely still for
years while price gets increasingly higher on living goods and housing per year. Thus being a
middle class no longer means well-being due to the severe pollution and unsafe food.
The environment of Central Shiqiao is highly threatened by automobiles, because it
is a very dense area with high density of pedestrian users, while the traffic regulation is not
effectively ruling the drivers. Traffic is crowded in the day, and has been worsened in recent
years because drivers often go wild on street. They change lanes unnecessarily and don’t yield
passengers. As passengers walking on the street, we must look around and listen carefully to the
noise caused by the engine of cars before crossing streets because a car may rush into our face in
a sudden.
Motorcycles have been forced out the other districts in the city for several years; in
Guang Zhou, motor bikers used to earn money by carrying passengers around, and they rushed
through the traffic sea being unconscious of the possible danger and accidents. In our district,
motorcycles are not prohibited, so our streets are even more dangerous to pedestrians; we can
always hear the noise of rushing motorcycles. In some conjunctions of roads, there are also
motor bikers who occupy the sidewalks, yell at passengers to ask if they need a ride. In the
evening when you walk to the end of a road and a motor biker who stay in the shadow for hours
can suddenly yell at you.
FOOD CULTURE AND NIGHT CULTURE
Night culture and food culture are the distinct and instinct characteristics of the
neighborhood; the early developed centers like Chang Ti Road along the River and Da Bei Road
have maintained their historical features and old buildings which contribute to their night culture
and food culture. Chang Ti has released its role of major concentration in the neighborhood
because of the later development of Qing He Ave and the severe pollution of the River, but
Chang Ti Road is still a subordinate concentration of night clubs in the neighborhood. Da Bei
Road is still a concentration of shopping among youngsters, although a more popular shopping
mall has been built to the northwest of Da Bei Road. Da Bei Road is the most walkable center for
middle school and high school students, because several schools--Zhong Yuan High School,
Qiao Dong Primary School, are located near it. Later developed concentration --Qing He Ave is
also active at night time--bars and restaurants are built along the west half of Qing He Ave,
featured by Mei Li Hua Hotel. Further east of Qing He Ave, Panyu Square is a newer
concentration of the neighborhood in terms of leisure center and event center. Qing He Ave
extends itself northwest to Da Bei Road. Therefore, Da Bei Road and Guang Ming Nan Road are
influenced by both historical south end and modern Qing He Ave.
The small blocks, alleyways and walk ways that contribute to the circulation of
between Dong Chong Road and Guang Ming Road make the northwest a pedestrian friendly
shopping center; this shopping center has been a concentration of students and youngsters
because of its walkability and popularity.
Most of the Shiqiaoers are night persons. From 8 to 10 pm, Da Bei Road is fully
occupied by young people who come to shop and look around. Night snacks on the street are
young people’s favorite part. Around 10 o’clock in the evening, barbeques, food carts, and big
row blocks start their businesses on the most popular walking paths; they occupy the whole Da
Nan Street, the path connecting Da Nan Street and Dong Chong Street, and the south edge.
Around 8 o’clock in the evening, with warm light casting on the ground, different
kinds of activities take place in Panyu Square; square dance has become the most popular event
among middle aged women. They dance uniformly following the leader, with a music box put in
front of the rows. Many other passengers gather to watch the square dance. Roller skating and
board skating are always kids’ favorite. Color fountains located on both sides of the square are
played. The smell of snacks spread from the food carts that stand in front of the entrance of
Panyu Subway station. People sell toys lying on the floor.
The older centers like Chang Ti and Da Bei Road are featured with community
memory and history; they have small blocks and pedestrian friendly circulations. They have
longer history in Shiqiaoers’ memory than other regions. Shiqiaoers can gain the sense of
identity from their community atmosphere. Panyu Square is newer, surrounded by apartment’s
plans, with longer blocks which are not pedestrian friendly but automobile friendly instead.
Panyu Square is rarely occupied in normal day time because it is mainly used by families with
children after school and work at nighttime, while Da Bei Road is occupied all day and night,
used by different people of the neighborhood--store keepers, restaurants, shoppers, school
students who go the school nearby, old people who live in the nearby old houses, and parents
who keep their children company. The community around Da Bei Road has buildings of
different ages--older houses, schools and several newer built shopping malls.
Therefore, Panyu Square is only a night time concentration while Da Bei is an all-
time concentration of the neighborhood. Da Bei, with a longer history, is closer to the identity of
Shiqiaoer. The comparison between Panyu Square and Da Bei Road indicates the similar roles
played by the East End and the West End of the neighborhood.
Planned in the second half of 20th century, Customs is also surrounded by several
schools and 20th century apartments and buildings, with small blocks. Customs is older than
Panyu Square, but younger than Da Bei and Chang Ti. Customs is the educational and residential
center. It is busy during the day and peaceful at night. The community can be called the Central
Shiqiao community. Compared with Da Bei, the Central community feels more like home to me,
since I had lived in Central Community for over 10 years. It is a peaceful neighborhood; it’s a
joy to see the school students, parents who buy breakfast before school and work, customs
officers with their uniforms on, men and women who shop food and goods in the Market beside
Customs, and the nurses and doctors who work in He Xian Hospital across the street from the
Market to the west. Among the communities of Shiqiao, the Central community keeps the best
private interest in its public realm. Its residents feel calm and peaceful living in it.
THE THREE REGIONS
The history, recent policies, food and night culture all have significant impact on
forming the living environment in our neighborhood.
I lived in my first home in the West End since I was born, then I moved to the
Central Neighborhood before 5 years old. I had lived in the Central District until 10 years old
when I moved to my third home in the East End. The West End was an older neighborhood
developed in early 1900s, but I lived in a small planned housing project that was developed in
1980s. The Central District was the center of Shiqiao which developed since Reform and
Opening-up in 1978, with the great Customs and the best-off schools around it. The East End
was the latest developed neighborhood which is occupied by several mass produced poor-quality
housing projects. Among these three neighborhoods, West End and Central District were more
successful while East End is a failure.
The Central District is a successful neighborhood under Jane Jacob’s criteria for
successful cities. Customs, schools, hospital, dwellings create the mixed primary uses of the
Center.
The city streets in a successful city are equipped to handle strangers and maintain the
safety of the neighborhood.1 The basic requisite for surveillance is a substantial quantity of
stores and other public places sprinkled along the sidewalks of a district.2 Take Panyu Customs
as the center, there are two main walking paths intersecting with Qing He Ave—De Sheng Road
and De Xiang Road. Standing at the intersection between Qing He Ave and De Sheng Road,
heading to the east, are clothe shops, comic book and fashion magazine store on the left, and
finally Dong Feng Middle School. Behind the front stores of the left side is a residential
community called Dong Hui Yuan. On the right side of the road, there’s breakfast restaurant,
balloon toy store, clothe shops, tutoring center, and finally across Dong Feng Middle School is a
24-hour bakery and Dong Cheng Kindergarten School. Therefore, these shopkeepers were
effective eyes on the street, especially for the balloon toy storekeeper who lives inside the
building and run her business in front of the building, the 24-hour bakery that welcomes students
and parents and other clients even late in the evening. Since Chinese middle school students are
all required to attend a night self-study class, those students can get hungry when they left school
at 9pm and get to buy some bread, cakes and hotdogs from the bakery. For late night loitering,
the bakery is also a possible termination for teenagers. An example might be my own story—two
classmates and I decided to watch a shooting star that was predicted to occur at that night,
therefore we kept loitering around the neighborhood since 9pm. We didn’t see the shooting star
until 3am the other morning, and we eventually arrived at the bakery which was the only lighted
store at the moment, so we stopped and took a nap there, until we left the bakery around 5:30am.
Therefore, parents, students, shopkeepers keep the street watched during the day, while the
bakery and middle school students as well as their parents can keep an eye on the street during
nighttime. Therefore, schools and dwellings are primary uses that bring secondary diversity of
stores and shops to the street.
De Xiang Road is also occupied by different kinds of stores—clothes shops,
stationery stores, flower stores, snack stores, newspaper and magazine store, and sewing shop.
1 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.
2 Jacobs
De Xiang Road has several public acquaintances; the couple owners of the magazine store we
firstly encounter have run their business for decades, therefore they surely know what students
are recommended by their teachers to read and what newspaper sell best in the region. They
know all the familiar faces who like to buy their magazines. Further down the road is the sewing
shop owner, who is spotted to be sitting there each time I crossed by, who would say hi to me
and keep her smile when she sew the school uniforms or try to make the trousers shorter for her
clients. She also has been in the area for decades. I was happy to see her still sewing when I
returned to china last summer break. Residents in the region must feel calm and peaceful when
they see her face. Further down the street, across from Dong Cheng Primary School, stands a
stationery store that has been there for decades as well. I never bought my stationery elsewhere
for years. They just know what brand of water pens I like to use. The other clothes shops settled
on the street later, probably attracted by the residents and students in the region. Therefore the
casual public sidewalk life remains well in the central region. The feeling of the public identity
of people is kept by the public sidewalk contacts.3 Residents are aware of the public respect and
trust among people.4
Central District consists of offices, schools, dwellings, and Dong Cheng Market as its
mixed primary uses.5 Dong Cheng Market attracts people to shop foods and goods in the day,
and it also contains many relative small enterprises and retails within the market as well.
Although the Central District is not equipped with night clubs, bars for nighttime uses, it is still a
very safe region. We have saying that thieves are all sleeping when Central District is dark. In
fact, besides middle school students and their parents, other residents of dwellings in the region
compensate the hole of bars and clubs for nighttime users of the streets.
My third home in East End was an apartment unit in a small planned housing project
of government officers dwellings built with public money. The other mass produced housing
projects around us were built later, therefore we didn’t know how the surroundings would be
formed when we moved in. The later development of the East End proved that it became a semi-
slum because of the homogenous primary use of the neighborhood as dwellings and therefore the
immigrant transients who rent in the mass produced apartments were to blame.
3 Jacobs
4 Jacobs
5 Jacobs
According to Jane Jacobs, transients are ignorant of the safety of the sidewalks in a
neighborhood.6 They don’t consider Shiqiao as their home because they frequently move and
don’t own their own property in the city. We can’t keep track of their face. These transients are
commonly seen in the East End.
Those housing projects make the streets dead and boring; take our project for
example; it contains two high residential buildings, a grass plaza, and a recreation building. The
project is bounded by one story walls; stores were built along the boundaries, facing outward.
The cheaper mass produced housing project to the east of us is also bounded by this kind of
“store walls”. Therefore, the only “public realm” for residence of our project is the grass plaza
and the recreation center in the project. Residents rarely loiter out of the boundary at night. They
are afraid of the surrounding environment beyond the boundary. The reason why people do not
dare to walk outside the project is that although there are stores surrounding the project, they are
not built along sidewalks like traditional city sidewalks. These stores are facing the super wide
Qing He Ave with nothing more than automobiles crossing by. There are no potential users for
sidewalks in the evening because of the homogenous primary use of dwellings. Thus the
sidewalks are not equipped to handle strangers; in around 2008, a sister of a resident in the
project was reported to be robbed and one of her arms were chopped off right in front of the
entrance to the project around 11pm, the stores on the sidewalk were mostly closed at the
moment, so there’s no effective eyes on the street.
The public space—grass plaza and the recreation center—cannot maintain a normal
public life of a city, because people feel cannot keep their privacy—they jog around the grass
plaza every day and encounter their coworkers. They don’t have a public contact to have a casual
conversation with, thus gossip never ends. The project sounds like a private realm for the officers
and their families, but lacks normal public life in a city. The public life of the project is not bad
only because the owners have the similar social background, and they can also enjoy their public
life elsewhere by driving to the nearby Panyu Square or the other neighborhoods. As Jane Jacobs
presumes, the sense of togetherness in this kind of housing project is very selective; residents are
choosy as to who their neighbors area and with whom they associate with. Our project, which is
aimed at the government officers’ housing, houses the selected middle class people in the society,
6 Jacobs
while the surrounding low rent projects house lower class people and probably immigrants from
other regions of the country, thus we consciously avoid friendliness or casual offers of help
outside our project. Segregation and discrimination is not resolved in these housing projects. No
new people were met outside our “private” social circle, but our privacy is kind of violated.
Furthermore, when some of the apartment owners try to sell their units to someone “outside”
when they have enough money to afford a property in a better neighborhood with better
surrounding environment or a bigger house, residents who choose to stay would complain how
their neighbors in the same building are going to be unknown strangers, therefore the social
network which was once “stationary” has been destroyed by property transfer.
The West End, the earliest developed region in the neighborhood, is the most
successful region in terms of city diversity. For West End, commerce has formed a primary use
because it attracts users all day including nighttime. Schools and offices, and dwellings and
Panyu Library are also its primary uses. Movie Theater, Panyu Shiqiao Cultural Center, and New
Plaza are the secondary uses that bring diversity to the neighborhood. The West End simply
shows what a walkable traditional town should be like. Schools draw students and parents to the
region early as 6 am in the morning. New Plaza attracts many seniors who like to play Chinese
chess and do stretch exercise in this garden-like recreation square as early as 6:00am. Office
buildings have worker that got to work at 8:00am. The stores in Da Nan Road open at 10:00 am
and start to attract people who come to shop. Noon sees students leaving schools and office
workers heading for surrounding restaurants for lunch. After 6:00pm the shops, the stores and
restaurants get a lot of consumers including young people from other neighborhood who come to
shop. As mentioned, small blocks and walkable alleyways between streets are featured in the
West End. Therefore snacks also attract many visitors from other neighborhoods. West End has
great density of users at any time of the day, thus it satisfies the need for concentration of people
as the condition for city diversity. West End has some older buildings when compared with the
Central District and East End, so it owns the many alleyways between the old buildings that
contribute to the convenience of walking through small blocks and fosters the small barbeque
enterprises that occupy the alleyways during nighttime; for sure those snack carts and barbeque
cart owners won’t be able to afford the rent of a store that on a wide street that is occupied by
automobiles. This confirms how aged buildings are needed in a city for generating diversity.
Thus the East End is lacking mixed primary uses, small blocks, and aged buildings
which are vital conditions for city diversity, while Central District has mixed primary uses, small
blocks, but lacks aged buildings for generating diverse uses during nighttime. Lastly, West End
has the longest history and memories, has the densest concentration of people in the region yet
not overcrowded, has mixed primary uses which have evolved in the region for decades. The
small blocks, aged buildings, alleyways, and the lack of housing projects make it a lively and
diverse city neighborhood.
SYMBOLISM
According to Venturi, the communication between architecture, landscape and
people is significant. 7Architecture with symbols associated with meaning and history can better
communicate with people. On Qing He Ave, white concrete 8 stories high dwellings with
storefronts on the first floor are commonly seen. These dwellings were built in 1980s and 1990s
to house the increasing population in the neighborhood, while they also symbolize the first wave
of urbanization and the beginning of property. Most of these dwellings do not exceed 8 stories
because stories are limited for buildings without elevators. The storefronts on the first floor of
the buildings form a commerce wall along the sidewalk. The façade of a house is never seen on
the street because they are all bounded in the specific housing projects inward of each block,
hidden behind the exposed commerce. Therefore, the uniformed storefronts with apartments
above them form the basic image on the street when one is driving. This uniformed background
makes it easy to notice when a modern building like a glass walled building or a skyscraper stand
out. When such modern buildings occur, they usually keep a greater setback from the street, or
are surrounded by plantation and grass. The surrounding plantation and grass form a different
background for contrast with the rest of the street view. Thus the identity of the glass buildings is
strengthened as landmarks. The dense dwellings and stores also make a contrast with the relief of
space of these landmarks. Panyu Government, Zhong Yin Building, and Customs are all clearly
identified landmarks when they are observed externally in this way. The layout of their plans
hints the significance of them as civic power and financial power from far away. They
communicate well with both drivers and pedestrians by their changing proximity to the street.
7 Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steve Izenour, Learning From Las Vegas.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972.
Their architectural forms also indicate their significance; the clock tower of Customs building
symbolizes the civic power of Customs carries as well as the significance of time in trading.
Since Chinese people are not familiar with Western architecture, bare glass wall and absolute
symmetry symbolize importance or money. Therefore, glass wall is the most obvious symbolic
decoration of these buildings, while the signage on the storefronts becomes the explicit symbols
of the vernacular buildings. In this way the vernacular buildings become decorated sheds defined
by Venturi8. Customs is a decorated shed with associated social meanings as well.
QUALITY OF THE IMAGE
Significant Paths, edges, nodes, and landmarks chosen by subjects
According to Lynch, the image of a city consists of 5 physical elements including
paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.9
Paths: “paths are the channels along which the observer customarily moves.”10
According to subjects, the parallel East-West paths, Qing He Ave, Shi Lian Ave (Ping Kang
Road), are two main paths in the neighborhood. Besides these two paths, the subjects tend to
8 Venturi
9 Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1960.
10 Lynch
move South-North, and chose their potential paths according to their uses; most of them chose
Huan Cheng Dong Road and Dong Chong Road as their main paths.
Edges: “Edges are the boundries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity.”11
All the subjects chose Chang Ti Road (along river) and Xi Li Road (west arm of the river) as
their boundaries.
Nodes: “Nodes are points, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can
enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is traveling.”12
Subjects chose the
intersection between Dong Huan Road and Qing He Road, the intersection between Ping Kang
Road and Huan Cheng Dong Road, the intersection between Yu Shan Da Dao and Da Bei Road,
and the intersection between Dong Chong Road and Ping Kang Road as the main nodes in the
neighborhood.
Landmarks: landmarks are a type of external point-reference where the observer does
not enter within them.13
Panyu Government, Panyu Square, and You Dian Building (the post
and telecommunications building) are chosen by all the subjects. Subjects chose their other
landmarks based on their daily use and knowledge of the neighborhood.
To create a vivid image, the elements should be able to strengthen their clarity and
singularity. Paths should be continuous, with clarity of direction and hierarchy among
themselves so that people can be oriented, and travel through the neighborhood can be scaled.
Qing He Ave and Shi Lian Ave (Ping Kang Road) intersect with the other South-North paths
perpendicularly, therefore the orientation of East-West and South-North is clear. Qing He Ave
and Shi Lian Ave (Ping Kang Road) are continuous within the neighborhood. Qing He Road
grooves upward at the West End and continues to the North, while Ping Kang Road continues to
west. In Shiqiao, there are three main bridges that lead to the southern suburb, including De Xing
Bridge on De Xing Road, Nan Jiao Bridge on Gong Ye Road, and Xi Li Bridge on Xi Li Road.
Therefore the orientation of South-North is clear. The width of Qing He Ave gets narrower when
it goes from East to West—6 lanes at East End gradually become two lanes at West End. Ping
Kang Road remains 2 lanes from east to west, while the setbacks of the buildings along the street
get smaller as it travels from east to west. The different uses of the different parts of the
11
Lynch 12
Lynch 13
Lynch
neighborhood strengthen the orientation of the paths and motivate the change of mindset as one
travels from south to north and from east to west. The subjects can sense the newer settled,
clearly laid out east end, the clearly laid-out public spaces in the central region, and the diverse
and lively activities happening in the west end. The presences of other city elements also
strengthen the image.
Nodes, as the introverted point reference, should have sharp and closed boundaries,
or it is break in transportation. One should be clear of how to enter and go outward of the node,
thus a node should be visible from the outside. Nodes can be strengthened by high landmarks.
The nodes chosen by subjects are all intersections between paths and intensive focal points.14
The intersection between Yu Shan Da Dao and Da Bei Road has sharp and closed
boundaries. It is enclosed by commercial districts with buildings in different heights from four
directions. There’s an overpass for pedestrians to cross the streets since the traffic is so busy in
this node. Automobiles can take a break in this node to decide whether to go to the north Shiqiao
or back to the old town, whether to go to the western suburb or the East End. Therefore this node
is an intense focal point for automobiles and pedestrians.
The intersection between Dong Huan Road and Qing He Ave is a node because it is
where automobiles enter the town. Panyu Square is also a node for transportation—beneath it is a
subway station, which is the termination of the main city line. The intersection is the corner and
exit of highway, and is strengthened by landmarks of Panyu Government, Panyu Square and a
skyscraper of Zhong Yin Building. The northeast boundary of this node is not sharp because the
Luo Community in that area is pretty closed and introverted, leaving a blank between the East
End and it. The flow of traffic can lead people to the right direction, but the boundary is a little
confusing as for the image.
As Lynch suggests, landmarks are strengthened when they are grouped, and when
nodes are joint with them, more attention is driven.15
Panyu Government and Panyu Square are
grouped. Panyu Government plays the role of civic power while Panyu Square creates a more
leisure and relief feeling; orientation is more clarified when people see the two landmarks
reacting to each other. Transportation break is also acting to strengthen the image; the overpass
14
Lynch 15
Lynch
highway to the east of these two landmarks convinces that one is entering Shiqiao Town. When
one drives down the highway and enter the intersection, one can spot the skyscraper standing
beside Panyu Square, and the realm of Panyu Government during the break of traffic light.
Turning right, one would enter the wide street of Qing He Ave. One is getting closer to the great
Government building and Panyu Square. Therefore it is clear how to enter and exit the node.
Lynch’s argument that the users who are more familiar with the city would orient
themselves with landmarks rather than paths16
is true; the subjects all come up with different
landmarks in their mind, depending on the frequency of them using the related paths.
The quality of the five physical elements shows that South Shiqiao has a vivid image
that is identifiable because of the contrast of the built environment between the south and the
north, and between the west and the east. The East End of the neighborhood has a boring image
because it only contains mass produced housing projects that are so introverted. The three of the
North-South oriented paths that lead to the southern suburb are not so vivid because they don’t
have the unified view along the path, hence people don’t recognize them as potential paths.
ICONS AND ALIENS
Along Qing He Ave, Icons built in late 20th century are seen. These were previous
Aliens in the neighborhood, but already transformed into Icons in the neighborhood.17
16
Lynch 17
John J. Costonis, Icons and Aliens.
Panyu District Hall, viewing from Panyu Square
Panyu Square, Panyu District Hall and Government, and Panyu Customs are the
icons in my neighborhood. Most icons are institutional buildings. Panyu Square is a center for
leisure and recreation and events. It shows the excitement of the neighborhood, the hospitality
and friendliness of neighborhood residents, as well as the night culture. Many of the big cultural
events take place in the Square; in Lunar New Year Festival, New Year’s Eve, beautiful
fireworks are played, thus residents can come to the Square to watch the performance. A week
before Lunar New Year, Colored Street is settled--the adjacent street to the south of the Square
will become a commercial street for temporary stores selling flowers, lucky plants, handicrafts,
toys, Chinese traditional handwriting with lucky words, poems, etc. Two intersecting streets will
be decorated with colorful lights. Colored Street is a temporary celebration for the coming of
Lunar New Year, where people encounter their acquaintances at schools, at work, and in daily
life. Familiar faces are likely seen in the yearly event. Besides, on Food Festival, food from
different provinces in china is brought to the event held in Square, thus people can taste different
style of Chinese food in the Square.
Across Qing He Ave is the other Icon in the neighborhood--Panyu District Hall. It’s
a master planned site built in the beginning of 21st Century.
Panyu Customs, 1988
Panyu Customs is also facing Qing He Ave. It was built in 1988 after the Opening of
China in 1978. It locates in the educational center of the neighborhood, since Dong Cheng
Primary School and Kindergarten, Dong Feng Middle School are all located to the south of
Panyu Customs across Qing He Ave. Panyu Customs is also a planned site; a spire tower rises
above the glass walled structure sitting on an elevated base, surrounded by grass, preceded by
concrete residential apartments for officials and their families, and a basketball field facing the
apartment building. Customs is bounded by barriers, but it is commonly seen by pedestrians and
drivers along Qing He Ave.
Tian Mu Mall-left, store-apartment buildings -right
Residential apartments were also built in late 20th century and early 21st century.
The photo below shows the residential apartments built in late 20th century and part of the Alien
across the Qing He Ave which was built several years ago. The Tian Mu Mall, which stands in
the corner between Qing He Ave and Gongye Road, suddenly interrupts with the storefronts and
vernacular buildings facing the streets. It is a glass walled building in great scale, without any
setback from the street. Its entrance faces directly to the corner of the street, beside the surpass
bridge extended on Gongye Road. It’s a terrifying burden in terms of its great size and location,
because it doen’t fit in the image at all. Storefronts with apartments above them were replaced by
this big glass Alien. This kind of building should be placed on a shopping plaza with great
setback from the streets, instead of standing in a dense commerce and residence mixed clusters
like this. It is not surprising that the mall can’t attract any consumers at all, because the building
gets even more annoying in transportation break.
OLDER ICONS
Older Icons were built along the river on Chang Ti Road.
Qi Lou, built in the early 20th century, is found on Chang Ti Road, which is the
south edge of the neighborhood, facing Shiqiao River. Qilou buildings are unique to the southern
part of china. The architecture type is popular in 1920s in Guang Zhou. Qilou buildings have
been closely related to the city’s booming business economy. “Business” was the concept of the
Qilou design, and we can find examples of ancient buildings with similar design elements dated
back to Song Dynasty.
Since Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), western things have been emerging in China.
Greek architecture with corridors had just been introduced to Guangzhou, which eventually
became the rudiment of Qilou building type.
During the late 19th Century and early 20th century, many Cantonese merchants
returned to their hometowns from other Southeast Asian countries to building their own business.
They brought some exotic styles of architecture, and soon Qilou building emerged. Most of the
Qilou buildings are three or four storied, with a protruding structure, arcade, stretching above
from the second story over the sidewalk. These arcades are linked together by the side of the
street, forming a shaded corridor, which keeps the shops along the sidewalk as well as the
pedestrians safe from the scorching sun and rain. It rains a lot in the spring in Southern China.
Therefore, Qilou buildings, which are suitable for sub-tropical climate in Lingnan areas,
providing convenience for the local people, were once the main architectural style in Guangzhou.
Qun Yuan, built in 1941
Qun Yuan was built in 1941, and was rehabilitated in 2008, now registered as a
Cultural Heritage of Guang Zhou City. Qun Yuan is surrounded by summer corridors, supported
by red round brick columns and bounded by red brick walls. The main front of Qun Yuan
follows the Ru Yi Door building type, featured by Chinese traditional green glazed flying tile on
its roof. There are 5 main buildings inside Qun Yuan.
Therefore, the older traditional architectures of early 20th century were built along
the river. The previous District Hall (20th century) was located beside Qun Yuan. Qun Yuan is
now serving as the activity center for seniors in the community.
In china, the preservation of old buildings and historic sites are mainly carried out by
the different levels of government according to their registered level. A regulation for example,
Qun Yuan is designated as the Cultural Heritage of Guang Zhou City, thus it is supposed to be
maintained and preserved by the Office of Guang Zhou Cultural Relics, according to the
Regulation of Carrying out the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural
Relics, which was passed at the 20th
Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National
People’s Congress on June 29, 1991.
The administrative department for cultural relics under the State Council shall take charge of the work concerning
the protection of cultural relics throughout the country.
Article 9 Peoples governments at various levels shall attach importance to the protection of cultural relics and
correctly handle the relations between economic and social development and the protection of cultural relics so as to
ensure safety of the cultural relics.
The cultural relics are designated by the Office of Cultural Relics; the Office of
Cultural Relics has experts on Cultural Relics who would carry out annual survey on subjects
that should be designated. According to the Office of Cultural Relics of Panyu District, Qi Lou in
Shiqiao is not designated as cultural relics, but significant Qi Lou streets in other districts of
Guang Zhou are preserved by the City of Guang Zhou.
Qun Yuan on the right, Old District Hall on the left.
Old Houses adjacent Chang Ti, built in early 20th Century.
It’s not exaggerating to say that most of us who were born in the 1990s were born in
the realm of Aliens because not many of us have lived in a house like this. Although we are
accustomed to skyscrapers and apartments, we are still familiar with older houses and older
neighborhoods, because of food. As we know, Shiqiaoers can’t live without seafood and street
food. Snacks and food carts often like to occupy a place where there’s no Chengguan--City
Inspectors who prohibit food carts, therefore the best place for avoiding the inspectors is the
alleyway between those older houses. The frequently used alleyways often maintain a sense of
“tradition”, “home” and “leisure.” People feel free and relaxed when they enjoy sitting on a
plastic chair, eating beef offal in the plate.
CONCLUSION
The West End of Central Shiqiao, with mixed primary uses that draw continuous
users, small blocks articulated best for pedestrians, alleyways that foster street food culture,
concentration of population, and old buildings that enables the diversity of enterprises, becomes
the most diverse neighborhood with the longest history to be memorized. Business culture, food
culture and night culture, which were fostered historically by the local residents, were
dynamically infused to the public realm of the West End, interwoven with the later developed
industries, enterprises, local middle class dwellings, educational centers, and cultural center. This
distinct culture strengthens the identity and the image of the neighborhood, because most of the
local residents maintain their memories associated with the cultural atmosphere of West End, and
would like to continue living with it. The continuous users ensure the safety of the densest region
of the neighborhood. The West End is equipped well enough to handle strangers and people of
different social classes and cultural background. The dynamic circulation of paths in West End
also indicates the minimal segregation of social classes and the spirit of inclusiveness. Therefore
West End has the best public interest.
The Central Region of the neighborhood, which was carefully laid out in the 20th
century, with the most reliable educational centers in the neighborhood, the civic buildings that
are most relative to the local culture of business—customs, the most popular market, and the
middle class dwellings that are infused into the blocks, keeps the best balance between private
and public interest, and owns many reliable public characters in the community, thus the
community remains good contact among the residents and users, and has the best self-
surveillance in the community. The West and Central regions together form a successful urban
center for the district.
The East End of the neighborhood, developed by the money-driven real estate
investigators and developers, has a chaotic and confusing built environment that hints urban
sprawl, with the cheap mass produced apartment projects spreading over the region. The
introverted housing projects and the introverted previous villages nearby strengthen the
segregation of different social classes and people from different cultural background. The East
End is lacking mixed primary uses, small blocks, and continuous use of the streets, mainly also
because of the mass produced projects since they are bounded tightly inward, and are not
blending into the image. Therefore, it’s a failed minor focus radiated from the center of the
neighborhood.
The image of Central Shiqiao is vivid on the west-east paths because of the
distinguishable different features in physical plans and atmosphere among the three regions.
Therefore, we should protect the precious old buildings in the West End, think
carefully before a new development or investigation comes in, in order to maintain the identity of
the neighborhood, and to prevent an urban center from becoming an empty heart.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.
Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steve Izenour, Learning From Las Vegas.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972.
Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1960.
John J. Costonis, Icons and Aliens.1991.
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