AV Monografías 108


Issue 109-110 IX-XII 2004 38€			CHINA BOOM Growth Unlimited
			Luis Fernández-Galiano China Boom Un mundo nuevo A New World Peter G. Rowe La modernización de China Modernization in China Zheng Shiling Ciudad y arquitectura en transformación Chinese City and Architecture in Flux Juan Carlos Sancho Tres ideas sobre una experiencia Three Ideas on our Experience Legión extranjera Foreign Legion Paul Andreu Gran Teatro Nacional, Pekín Grand National Theater, Beijing Centro de artes orientales, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Shanghai Centro deportivo, Guangzhou Sports Center, Guangzhou Burckhardt & Partner Pabellón polideportivo Wukesong, Pekín Wukesong Multipurpose Sports Hall, Beijing David Chipperfield Conjunto residencial, Hangzhou Residential Complex, Hangzhou Museo de la cultura Liangzhu, Liangzhu Liangzhu Culture Museum, Liangzhu Norman Foster Aeropuerto internacional, Pekín International Airport, Beijing Zaha Hadid Museo Guggenheim, Taichung Guggenheim Museum, Taichung Herzog & de Meuron Estadio nacional, Pekín National Stadium, Beijing Edificio TPT, Pekín Three Partnership Tower, Beijing Campus universitario, Pekín University Campus, Beijing Escuela de comunicación audiovisual, Qingdao School of Creative Media, Qingdao Marc Mimram Puente Bengbu, Tianjing Bengbu Bridge, Tianjing MVRDV Complejo residencial, Liuzhou Housing Complex, Liuzhou Torres Solo, Shenyang Solo Towers, Shenyang Office dA Casa de entrada, Tongxian Gatehouse, Tongxian Centro de arte, Tongxian Art Center, Tongxian OMA/Rem Koolhaas Sede de la CCTV, Pekín CCTV Headquarters, Beijing Casa del Libro, Pekín Beijing Books Building, Beijing Antoine Predock Museo del Palacio Nacional, Taibo National Palace Museum, Taibo PTW Architects Centro nacional de natación, Pekín National Swimming Center, Beijing Sancho & Madridejos Iglesia y centro cívico, Qingpu Church and Civic Center, Qingpu Foro de las Artes, Shanghai Art Forum, Shanghai Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Torre Jinao, Nanjing Jinao Tower, Nanjing Ciudad universitaria, Shanghai University City, Shanghai Von Gerkan & Marg Museo Nacional de China, Pekín National Museum of China, Beijing Museo Shanghai-Pudong, Shanghai Shanghai-Pudong Museum, Shanghai Riken Yamamoto Complejo mixto Jian Wai, Pekín Jian Wai Soho Complex, Beijing Profetas en su tierra Home Architects Yung Ho Chang Instituto de biotecnología, Chongqing Bio-Tech Institute, Chongqing Xiaohua Fei Aseos públicos, Shenzhen Public Toilets, Shenzhen Liu Jiakun Museo de escultura Luyeyuan, Xinmin Luyeyuan Sculpture Museum, Xinmin Xiaodong Li Escuela y centro comunitario Yuhu, Lijiang Yuhu Elementary School and Community Center, Lijiang Qingyun Ma Museo Urbano, NingboUrban Museum, Ningbo Lu Wang Museo local, TiantaiLocal Museum, Tiantai Muralla abierta Open Wall Proyecto residencial Tianjin, Tanggu Tianjin Housing Project, Tanggu Riken YamamotoCasa horadada Hollow House Motumu Uno Casa garaje Hybrid-Car House Ryue Nishizawa Casa extendida One-Story House Atelier Bow-Wow Casa patio inglés Burrowed Courtyard House Kazuhiro Kojima Casa dividida Divided House Comuna de la Gran Muralla, Shui Guan Commune by the Great Wall, Shui Guan Gary Chang Hotel-casa maleta Suitcase House Hotel Shigeru Ban Casa-mueble de bambú Bamboo Furniture House Cui Kai Casa para ver y ser vista ‘See and Seen’ House Rocco Yim Casa-patio deformada Distorted Courtyard House Chien Hsueh-Yi Casa aeropuerto Airport House Antonio Ochoa Casa en voladizo Cantilevered House Kengo Kuma Casa-muro de bambú Bamboo Wall House Kanika R’kul Casa compartida Shared House Kay Ngee Tan Casas gemelas Twin Houses Nobuaki Furuya Casa en el bosque Forest House Yung Ho Chang Casa escindida Split House Seung H-Sang Casa Club Club House CIPEA: muestra internacional de arquitectura, Nanjing CIPEA: China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture, Nanjing Steven Holl Museo de arte moderno y arquitectura Modern Art and Architecture Museum Liu Jiakun Centro social Community Center Zhou Kai Casa eremita Hermit House Qingyun Ma Casa Guan-Ye Guan-Ye House Sejima & Nishizawa Círculo de interacción Circle of Interaction Mathias Klotz Casa nenúfar Pond Lily House Njiric & Njiric Construcción para mil manos Construction for One Thousand Hands David Adjaye Caja de luz Light Box Mansilla & Tuñón Casa Fo-shou Fo-shou House Sean Godsell Sombras de bambú Bamboo Shadows Odile Decq Casa Pegaso Flying Horse House Matti Sanaksenaho Casa barco Boat House Luis M. Mansilla Sobre lo inmediato: notas de viaje On Immediacy: travel sketches
			Luis Fernández-Galiano China boom
			A ‘Pacific’ century, an Asian century or a Chinese century? On the threshold between the 20th and the 21st century, the transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific is forecasted by all; the move from America to Asia is noticed by many; and the replacement of the United States by China is feared by some: the awakening of the dragon provokes both wonder and distrust. After the reforms of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, in the last 25 years China has grown at a rate of 9 percent; in this period, its GNP has tripled, and the percentage of population living in cities has doubled, exceeding 40%. Fueled by exports, and backed by the postotalitarian protectionism of a single-party government, the stunning growth of China has not yet created global companies – the Sony or Hyundai that led the Japanese or Korean booms – but its large oil firms (PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC) try to find in several continents the energy needed by the world’s second importer; its technological companies (from Lenovo, that has purchased a division of IBM, to Huawei, that has created in Shenzhen a Silicon Valley-style campus, Doric Disney designs included) make up for scarce innovation with low labor costs; and its new breed of fancy millionaires, who build chateaux or buy French cosmetic brands, spearhead a large consumerist middle class, supplying a strong domestic demand that adds to the thrust of foreign markets. China’s unequal growth does not appear to be a large risk: the differences in income are similar to those of the US, and the contrast between the wealthy coast and the rural inland – where most upheavals have started, from Boxers to communists – is blurred as the development of Shanghai extends upriver along the Yangtze corridor, and as Hong Kong’s dynamism expands in concentric waves over the superregion of Guangdong, from that Pearl River Delta known as ‘the factory of the world’. More dangerous seem to be the weakness of the financial system, the persistence of administrative corruption and the scarcity of energy resources, the supply of which is being secured by heavy investments on the military, something that upsets its neighbors – Japan and Taiwan most of all, but also Korea and another awakening giant, India –, its competitors, and even the US, that urges its European allies to maintain the arms ban on China. On top of all this, in a country that has reached 1,300 million inhabitants in 2005, is the demographic scenario created by the single child policy and the accelerated ageing of the population, with an increasing number of 4+2+1 families, where now there are four grandparents and two parents satisfying the needs of a little emperor, but where in just 30 years a single adult will have to take care of six retirees. This huge economic and social transformation has expressed itself via an unprecedented urban explosion, shaped by titanic public works – large dams and suspended bridges, elevated highways and submarine tunnels – and with the foreseeable devastating impact on the environment and cultural heritage. The building frenzy that has attracted so many foreign architects to China – initially for technically complex or symbolically significant works, like some of the skyscrapers of Shanghai or the olympic projects in Beijing, but now more often for urban plans or conventional commercial developments – receives, according to The Economist, the added boost of a real-estate bubble that feeds on hot money placing its bets on the yuan’s revaluation. This process has turned some districts of Shanghai such as Pudong or Puxi into the most sought-after office areas in the world, and has caused in cities like Beijing an increasing decay of its architectural legacy, which barely respects World Heritage sites (The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Ming Imperial Tombs and the Temple of Heaven), besieged already by a unanimous tide of trivial constructions. The Chinese boom is a success story, and the speed of its change can only inspire admiration; but the same radical mutation which heralds an eastern century is bound to shock the west.