In the rapid process of urbanization in China, many cultural relics have bee

游客2023-12-10  23

问题     In the rapid process of urbanization in China, many cultural relics have been torn down to make room for high-rise buildings. Some people think that this leads to social progress and increasing living standard. Some argue that the cultural essence of China is rooted out, with the depletion of the historical sites. What is your opinion? Should cultural relics give way to urban development? Write an essay of about 400 words. You should supply an appropriate title for your essay.

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答案                         Civilization on Bulldozers
    In 1951, a stone fell from an ancient memorial archway in Chaozhou City and killed a postal worker. In light of this accident and a busy traffic flow, 150 archways in the city were all torn down. Not until 2009 were 22 of them on Taiping Road restored. Their original antiqueness, however, is nowhere to be found. It’s thus my belief that historic relics should never be sacrificed to make way for urban development.
    Firstly, intangible values of cultural relics are unique and thus difficult to replicate. In reality, historic buildings in the way of modernization are often labeled as ruined and dangerous and condemned to reckless demolition. Once the demolition draws public attention, the relevant departments would try to appease the public anger by announcing a project of restoration. But cultural relics are not toy building blocks that can be pulled down and rebuilt. Nor are they simply an aggregation of bricks and tiles, but monuments that carry historical significance. A restored history, however convincing and splendid, is at best a replica.
    Secondly, tearing down historic buildings to give way for modernization is a short-sighted act at the expense of cultural diversity. Because of the historical and geographical differences, cities are blessed with their own architectural styles and structures. For example, Qilou buildings flourished in the old city areas of Guangzhou due to hot and humid climate, while Beijing was famous for its courtyards designed to go with the feng shui principles. Replacing local historic architecture with uniform commercial and residential blocks will eventually transform hundreds of culturally diverse cities into the banally identical communities.
    To make matters worse, with the absence of cultural diversity, the sense of belonging and identity will be lost. We would be unable to identify ourselves and recollect our collective memory by virtue of local hallmarks. For instance, if the ancient kiln in Foshan were torn down, descendants would have a hard time remembering that porcelain and pottery were the pride of Foshan. With the last trace effaced, the sorrow and happiness associated with a familiar environment gradually fades out from our memory. What was leveled to the ground is not only our invaluable cultural heritage, but our sense of social cohesion
    In conclusion, cultural relics should be preserved. They are the living history, from which our future generations are able to make sense of who they are and who we were.

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