The New York Times...Beijing....and Me

Here at school we get the International New York Times (formerly the International Herald Tribune) every day.  Perhaps we get the Asian version, but the front page ALWAYS has some story about China with the Beijing in the location byline.  Last week, in the culture section, this article about a Ming Dynasty temple appeared.  Turns out it is a mere 10 minute bike ride away from my home, just inside the 2nd Ring road.

The article talks about the temple but the crux of the article is about the lack of cultural preservation in Modern China. How cultural relics are placed under the auspices of bureaus and government offices, but in essence they are left to their own devices.  The Nianhua Si (or Picking Flowers Temple) was a buddhist temple built in 1581.  It was renovated in 1734, but since then it has been overtaken by residents and the People's University Printing Press.  The article is a good read about the state of conservation in modern China.  I thought it was pretty cool that something in the NY Times was literally right around the corner from me.

The entrance to the Nianhua Si -- 2013

"KEEP OUT"

The Bell Tower of Nianhua Si

Temples usually were a complex.  Here's the entrance to the temple complex today.

"This area under the protection of some Cultural Bureau and No Smoking"

A majority of the temple has been overtaken and turned into a printing press.

The buildings are pretty rundown here in the temple area and in the hutongs around this area.

The hutongs sit on PRIME real estate and so the issue, as it is in many places, about preservation of cultural heritage versus modernization.