https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8741-020X
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ABSTRACT
With the launch of cultural tourism in Tianjin, the regeneration and heritage preservation of the Five Avenues, the former upscale residential area of the British Concession, has been accelerated. In 2012, the public monumental sports building of this area, Minyuan Stadium, was reconstructed into a leisure hub. Subsequently, several local community residents began documenting their memories of Minyuan and their views on its renewal on online We-media platforms. This article explores the residents’ perceptions of Minyuan as portrayed in the unexplored informal online archives and investigates how they differ from the official discourse. The findings reveal that the residents tend to present a dynamic image of Minyuan that moves beyond a Westernized image by highlighting low-cost temporary spatial practice in which ordinary people participated during the post-concession Socialist Revolution and Construction. These residents’ perceptions challenge the official representation of the local culture of the Five Avenues and the image of Minyuan, and contribute to provide an alternative perspective for understanding postcolonial identity construction in Chinese cities.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Zishi Li and Tianjin Memory Cultural Heritage Protection Team who created the two We-media platforms, and all the contributors who provided the personal histories and artworks to the two We-media platforms.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Zhu, Zhongguo·Tianjin·Wudadao, 370.
2 Rossi, The Architecture of the City. For Rossi, every physical structure in the city has the potential to become an urban artifact, while the most important urban artifacts are housings and monuments. The importance of urban monuments derives from their permanence in urban dynamics.
3 Smith, Uses of heritage. In Smith’s case, this dominant social group mainly refers to the middle and upper class Western white males, while it refers to the government-led heritage renewal agencies of the Five Avenues in this context.
4 Yang, “The Acceleration of We-media In China”. We-media is a term raised by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis to define the use of real-time communication platforms by the Chinese public to build influence.
5 In this article, the term ‘ordinary people’ refers to the non-celebrity group who have lived in the Five Avenues.
6 Zhu, Zhongguo·Tianjin·Wudadao, 40.
7 Committee of Tianjin People’s Congress, Guanyu Haihe liangan zonghe kaifa gaizao gongcheng qingkuang de baogao [Report on the Comprehensive Development and Reconstruction Project on Both Sides of Haihe River].
8 Xianglong Dai was the mayor of Tianjin from 2003 to 2007.
9 Becker, “CHINA: Tianjin Embraces Its Colonial Legacy”.
10 Marinelli, “Tianjin’s Worldly Ambitions”.
11 Wang, “Jiucheng gengxin beijing xia jiyu bentu shequ de yichan baohu yanjiu” [Research on Heritage Conservation Based on Local Community in the Context of Inner-City Redevelopment: Case Study of Tianjin], 153.
12 Zhu, Zhongguo·Tianjin·Wudadao, 350.
13 Arnold, “Changsuo de fuzaxing”.
14 Zhu, Zhongguo·Tianjin·Wudadao, 350.
15 Enorth, “Quanyu lvyou shifanqu wenlv ronghe kan Heping” [The integration of culture and tourism in the all-region tourism demonstration area of Heping District]; Xia, “Tianjin Wudadao baizhuang xiaoyanglou jiang ‘fasheng’” [Hundreds of Western-style building in Tianjin’s Five Avenues will ‘make their voices heard’].
16 In China, cultural consumption can be seen as a way of place branding.
17 Tianjin Municipal Network and Information Office, “Dazao zhezhang ‘Tianjin mingpian’, shinei liuqu jinnian yao zheyang fali” [To create this ‘Tianjin name card’, the city’s six districts should make such efforts this year].
18 Tan, “Tianjin Wudadao yu zujie wenhua [Tianjin Five Avenues and Concession Culture]”, “Tianjin Wudadao yu xiaoyanglou wenhua [Tianjin Five Avenues and Western-style Building Culture]”.
19 Wang, “Tianjin: Xin ‘Minyuan’ 9 yue liangxiang zhongxihebi de chengshi keting” [Tianjin: The New ‘Minyuan’ Will Appear in September, Urban Living Room Combining Chinese and Western Elements].
20 Zhu, Zhongguo·Tianjin·Wudadao, 62.
21 Xiang and Loo, “Narisi xiansheng tan Tianjin shi Minyuan Tiyuchang gaizao xiangmu sheji” [Interview with Mr Risi Na on the Renovation Projects of Minyuan Stadium in Tianjin], 231.
22 Five Avenues Cultural Tourism Area, “Yige ren yu yizuo tiyuchang de chuanqi” [The Legend of One Man and One Stadium]; Five Avenues, “Hui jiang gushi de xiaoyanglou: Minyuan Guangchang” [The Western-Style Building that Tells Stories: Minyuan Plaza]
23 Xiang and Loo, “Narisi xiansheng tan Tianjin shi Minyuan Tiyuchang gaizao xiangmu sheji” [Interview with Mr Risi Na on the renovation projects of Minyuan Stadium in Tianjin], 231.
24 Wang, “Jiucheng gengxin beijing xia jiyu bentu shequ de yichan baohu yanjiu” [Research on Heritage Conservation Based on Local Community in the Context of Inner-City Redevelopment: Case Study of Tianjin], 151.
25 Huang and Xue, “Jiyu Youke Ningshi de jingqu pingjia: Yi Tianjin Minyuan Guangchang wei li” [Evaluation of Scenic Spots Based on Tourist Gaze: A Case study of Tianjin Minyuan Square].
26 Liu and Liu, “Wudadao Wenhua Lvyou Qu kaizhan zhuanxiang diaoyan tongji gongzuo” [Five Avenues Cultural Tourism Area Carries Out Specific Research and Statistical Work].
27 Ibid.
28 Tianjin Jiyi, “Profile”; Tianjin Memory Cultural Heritage Protection Team, “Tianjin jiyi” [Tianjin Memory].
29 Qingxi Wudadao, “Profile”.
30 Gosseye et al., Speaking of Buildings, 10.
31 Chen et al., “Ying Zujie zhimin lujing yu jiuguo zujie jingzhengxing pintie: Yi Tianjin Ying Zujie (1860–1943) guihua wei zhongdian” [Expansion of British Concessions and Contested Collages of Nine Concessions: Town Planning of the British Concession in Tianjin, 1860–1943]; Liu and Fujikawa, “Chinese Participation in the Development of British Concession in Tianjin, China”; Tan, “Tianjin Wudadao yu zujie wenhua” [Tianjin Five Avenues and Concession Culture].
32 Gravari-Barbas et al., “Hybridisation and Circulation of Models in Tianjin’s Former Concessions”; Zhu, “Tianjin shi Wudadao baohu shiyanqu shijian moshi qianxi” [A Brief Analysis of Practical Model of Preservation Experimental Area of Five Avenues in Tianjin]; Zhang and Han, “Preservation and Regeneration Strategies for the Wudadao (Five Avenues) Area, Tianjin, China”.
33 Maxwell, Qualitative Research Design.
34 Braun and Clarke, “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology”.
35 Iñigo and Mace, “The Suburban Perimeter Blocks of Madrid 10 Years on”.
36 King and Horrocks, Interviews in Qualitative Research.
37 Ibid., 154.
38 Ibid., 158.
39 The ‘n’ in parentheses refers to the number of reference points, while the percentage refers to the text coverage rate.
40 China Youth Art Theatre and China National Acrobatic Troupe, Meidi de qiongtumolu: Huobaoju [The end of the American imperialism: Living Newspaper].
41 For instance, the Agricultural Cooperative of Xianshuigu Town in Jinnan District and the Agricultural Cooperatives of Yangliuqing Town in Xiqing District were invited to the fairs. Agricultural Cooperative is a type of rural production mutual aid organization established in the early days of the People’s Republic of China to restore production and enhance the ability of peasants to resist natural disasters. It is a lower form of the People’s Commune.
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Notes on contributors
Yanning Xiang
Yanning Xiang is a PhD candidate of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). Her research focuses on postcolonial built heritages and bottom-up urbanism in China.
Yat Ming Loo
Dr Yat Ming Loo, an architect, urbanist and architectural historian. He is now Associate Professor in Architecture and Urbanism at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, teaching architectural humanities and design studio. He received his PhD in Architecture and Urbanism from The Bartlett, University College London. His research is inter-disciplinary. Main research interests include intercultural city, postcolonial urbanism, urban memory, minority spaces, architectural history and decolonisation of architecture. His publications include Architecture and Urban Form in Kuala Lumpur: Race and Chinese Spaces in a Postcolonial City (Ashgate, 2013) and ‘Towards a Decolonisation of Architecture’ (2017). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the UCSI University in Malaysia.
Jonathan Hale
Prof Jonathan Hale is an architect and Professor of Architectural Theory in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment. He is Head of the Architecture, Culture and Tectonics research group (ACT). Research interests include: architectural theory and criticism; phenomenology and the philosophy of technology; the relationship between architecture and the body; museums and architectural exhibitions. He is founder and current steering group member of Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA); a member of the interdisciplinary Science, Technology and Culture research group and a Management Board member for the University's Research Priority Area in Creative and Cultural Industries.