Page 134 - JCAU-6-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Socialist urbanism and cultural infrastructure facilities

Liede Village, one of the most studied cases in China, Table 1. Projects under the Guangzhou Cultural
required extensive negotiation with the city (Wu, 2022). Infrastructure Construction Projects Plan (2003 – 07)
With concerns about impacts of the Asian Financial
Crisis and seeing competition from cities in the region, Priority projects
especially Shenzhen, the Guangzhou leadership renewed Provincial government-funded projects
commitment to the construction of Zhujiang New Town. Guangdong Province Science Center
New Guangdong Province Museum
In 2002, after a comprehensive review of pertinent
issues, city leaders redoubled efforts to complete the Sun Yat-sen Library Expansion Project
development of the new city center in Tianhe in relation Guangdong Province Cantonese Opera Center
to the policy principle of promoting Guangzhou’s profile City government-funded projects
as a leading international city. The deputy party secretary Guangzhou Library New Building
and mayor at the time, Lin Shusen, who had been a past Guangzhou Grand Theater
chair of the Guangdong Province Planning Committee, New Radio and Television Center
announced that future infrastructure construction would Guangzhou Daily Culture Square
be “considered based on standards of advanced world
cities” (世界先进城市的标准来考虑) (Guangzhou’s Guangzhou University Town Book Center
infrastructure construction aims at world-class, 2002). General projects
In 2003, Lin was appointed as the party secretary of Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe Comprehensive Teaching Building
Guangzhou, a position he held until mid-2006. Under Lin’s Huangpu Military Academy Historical Site renewal and maintenance
leadership, Guangzhou prioritized the development of the Memorial Hall of the CCP Third General Assembly Historical Site
21 -century built environment. Guangzhou Fine Arts Academy and Sculpture Institute New Site
st
Provinces and cities generally formulate multiple-year Peking Opera Theater
plans within the framework of the national 5-year Guangzhou Museum integration project
plan. During Secretary Lin’s tenure, the government of Mazhan Confucian College Clusters restoration project
Guangzhou prepared a city-wide cultural facilities plan for Guangzhou Ballet Troupe Rehearsal and Audition Hall
the period 2003 – 2007, spanning the 10 (2001 – 05) and
th
th
11 (2006 – 11) 5-year plans. In 2004, the city government Guangzhou City Book Logistics Center
published the “Opinions on Accelerating the Construction Nanhai Temple Maritime Museum
of Cultural Infrastructure Facilities in Guangzhou” Projects in preparation
(关于加快广州文化基础设施建设的意见) along with Guangzhou City Archives Phase I
the Guangzhou Cultural Infrastructure Construction Ancient Nan-Yue Kingdom Museum expansion and renewal
Projects Plan, 2003 – 07, coinciding with Lin’s Ancient Nan-Yue Kingdom Palace Museum
appointment as party secretary. It emphasized the need Guangzhou Acrobatic Arts Center
“to accelerate the realization of the municipal party
committee’s goal of constructing “cultural Guangzhou”” Memorial Hall of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution
(加快实现市委提出的建设‘文化广州’的目标) Guangzhou Film and Television Production Center
(Government of Guangzhou, 2004). The policy program Guangzhou Daily Tower
aimed to accelerate the construction of cultural Source: Excerpted from Government of Guangzhou (2004).
infrastructure facilities, with a completion deadline set for
2010, timed with Guangzhou’s hosting of the 2010 Asian Expansion Project, and Guangdong Province Cantonese
Games (Shin, 2014). In that temporal context, facing a Opera Center. Five projects would be funded by the city
national deadline and the imperative to “accelerate,” party government: Guangzhou Library New Building, Guangzhou
and government officials mobilized support. Grand Theater (also known as the Guangzhou Opera
The Guangzhou Cultural Infrastructure Construction House), New Radio and Television Center, Guangzhou
Projects Plan, 2003 – 07, outlines nine priority facilities Daily Culture Square, and the Guangzhou University Town
projects, 10 general facilities projects, and six projects Book Center. Ten general projects would be developed by
in preparation (Table 1). It lists projects by rank in the city’s Culture Bureau. Altogether, the more than 20
the administrative hierarchy, sources of funding, and projects in the Guangzhou Cultural Infrastructure Facilities
responsible bureaucracies. Four projects would be funded Construction Projects Plan, 2003 – 07, render the iconic
by the province: Guangdong Province Science Center, buildings on the Zhujiang New Town axis only a fraction of
New Guangdong Province Museum, Sun Yat-sen Library the city’s cultural infrastructure facilities work.

Volume 6 Issue 4 (2024) 7 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1995