In 1931, after earning his master’s degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Liang Sicheng returned to China where he joined a newly formed Beijing organization called the Institute for Research in Chinese Architecture.  For seven years he and his wife Lin Huiyin, one of China’s first female architects, lived in the courtyard house located at 24 Beizongbu Hutong, where together they completed their groundbreaking book, History of Chinese Architecture.

Over a long, illustrious career that saw him recognized as China’s “father of modern architecture,” Liang expressed strong sentiments when it came to preserving the country’s heritage and identity.  He and Lin were the first to study a number of China’s ancient buildings (including Foguang Temple, one of GHF’s first completed projects, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site).  In the 1950s, when Beijing was selected as China’s capital, Sicheng lobbied to keep its ancient buildings intact and urged the government to build an entirely new city instead.

Of course, one look at modern Beijing with its huge glass towers, apartment blocks and shopping malls shows that Liang’s pleas were largely ignored.  But his impact as a preservationist is undeniable.  Princeton University, which awarded Liang an honorary doctoral degree in 1947, described him as “a creative architect who has also been a teacher of architectural history, a pioneer in historical research and exploration in Chinese architecture and planning, and a leader in the restoration and preservation of the priceless monuments of his country.”

Liang Sicheng (second from left) and Lin Huiyin (fourth from left) with their daughter, son and others, circa 1940. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In late January, however, came news that Liang and Lin’s former courtyard home was bulldozed overnight, triggering outrage among preservationists across China and the world.  The demolition occurred over the Chinese New Year, a time when laborers normally do not work.  Activists had previously been able to save the residence after it was partially destroyed in 2009, at which point the government declared it a “permanent cultural relic” – meaning developers would need explicit permission to knock it down.

After news of the incident spread, government officials declared that the demolition had not been approved by cultural heritage authorities and that officials would investigate and deal with the case in accordance of the law.  But the sudden disappearance of a supposedly protected site has only added to the hopeless feelings of preservationists in Beijing, where government-affiliated developers seemingly have free range to demolish and build anywhere.

“Liang and Lin made such a great contribution to the protection of Chinese ancient buildings,” Zeng Yizhi, a cultural relics protection activist, told the China Daily.  “If their home can be torn down then developers can do the same thing to hundreds of other ancient houses in the country.”

Residents at the Beizongbu Hutong in Beijing’s Dongcheng district discuss the demolition of Liang Sicheng’s former residence with a reporter.  Photo: Li Wenming/China Daily

News of the demolition comes on the heels of a government census that found approximately 44,000 of China’s 766,722 registered heritage sites have disappeared over the past 20 years.  According to Liu Xiaohe, deputy director of the survey, economic construction is among the biggest reasons for the destruction.  Many of the vanished sites were completely unprotected or ignored by protection units overseeing national and provincial cultural relics, thereby allowing their demolition in favor of construction projects.

According to China Daily, the municipal government has said that Liang’s residence will be rebuilt and that it has ordered the developer not to remove anything from the rubble.  But Zeng and others feel that a replica would only add insult to injury, in much the same way that many of Beijing’s so-called “historic sites” are no more than pastiche recreations of the past.

“Protected relics cannot be rebuilt once demolished, according to international cultural heritage protection principles,” said Chen Zhihua, professor with the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, and a former student of Liang and Lin. “Building a replica only makes things worse. So I suggest that the government build a monument or a park on the original site in memory of Liang and Lin.”