.The features of a city are its buildings. As a factor most reflecting the times, society and nation,the buildings give overall and integrated expression to the national tradition, regional features spirit of the times and the social value. When you walk along the financial street of the Bund and the commercial street of East Nanjing Road and among the villas and gardens of Xujiahui, you can feel the history of prosperity of Shanghai. In the past 150 years since its opening in 1843, Shanghai has gradually developed into an international metropolis as well as an important economic, trade financial and cul-tural center of China. The special development op-portunities have made the western culture, local Shanghai culture and regional cultures of China collide, co-exist and become integrated and thus make Shanghai integrate the essence of the Chinese and Foreign cultures. In this way, Shanghai has become the place of origin for the modern Chinese con-struction culture and has a unique history of con-struction culture.
The modern buildings of Shanghai are rich in styles, almost covering those of almost all the
periods of the world construction history. It can be said that they constitute a living world construction history. You can see the new classicism buildings, Gothic building and compromise buildings, to the modernism buildings popular in Europe and America, decoration and art buildings and the new classicism Chinese buildings. The number of the styles, the complexity of the types and the grand scale of those builds are beyond match in this world. They give a comprehensive reflection of the evolution of the modern society and cities and also provide a key to learn the culture of Shanghai and the history of modern China.
Those old buildings have seen the changes of Shanghai and are bestowed with the prosperity of Shanghai. At this age, when China is embracing a new round of great economic development and the new concepts and ideas will bring Shanghai to an even brighter future, those old buildings will be bestowed with new significance. Who will wake them up, wash away the dust, make them become stronger and make them stay young and beautiful? It is we. We will devote all our enthusiasm and wisdom to accomplish this mission.
漫步街頭,尋找城市的足跡,最顯而易見的是城市的建筑.建筑是文化領(lǐng)域中最具有時代性、社會性和民族性的因素,整體而又集中地體現(xiàn)了民族傳統(tǒng)、地域特性、時代精神和社會的價值取向.徜徉外灘金融街.南京東路商業(yè)街、徐匯區(qū)的花園別墅群間,看到的是上海興盛的歷史.自1843年開埠以后,上海在150年中,逐漸發(fā)展成為一個國際化的大都市,成為中國重要的經(jīng)濟(jì)中心、貿(mào)易中心、金融中心和文化中心.特殊的發(fā)展際遇,使西方文化、上海本地文化和中國不同地域文化在此相互間沖撞、并存,融合,糅合了古今中外文化的精粹,令上海成為中國現(xiàn)代建筑文化的策源地,擁有獨(dú)特的建筑文化歷史.
上海的近代建筑有著十分豐富的內(nèi)涵,在近百年的建筑中,幾乎囊括了世界建筑各個時期的各種風(fēng)格,簡直就是一部活生生的世界建筑史.從新古典主義,哥特復(fù)興式、折衷主義到盛行歐美的現(xiàn)代主義建筑、裝飾藝術(shù)派建筑.復(fù)興中國傳統(tǒng)建筑藝術(shù)的中國新古典建筑等,各種風(fēng)格數(shù)量之多、種類之繁雜、規(guī)模之宏大在世界上也是罕見的.它綜合反映了近代社會和城市演變的歷程,是解讀上海文化、研究近代中國的一把鑰匙.
這些歷盡世事的老房子是上海的精神所系,她們目睹上海的變遷,承載著城市的繁華旖夢.現(xiàn)在,又一次的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展席卷中國大地,沖擊一切的新觀念、新思想,又一次飛速地推動著城市向新的未來發(fā)展,這些老房子必將被賦予新的意義.由誰來驚醒她們,由誰來為她們洗去塵埃,由誰來令她們的身肢更為矯健,令歲月流逝不再是遺憾——是我們,我們愿意為此付出我們的熱情和智慧.