| This study will address the issue of the transformation of the city in China. Special emphasis is placed upon the effect on city form and life of cultural tradition and political influence. Peking, with its distinct physical and social characteristics, is selected as a prototype for analysis and comparison.; City structure and residential components are examined in relation to the changing political and socioeconomic systems which have altered the city environment. The physical form of Peking, planned during the twelfth century, has experienced many changes. The great transformation occurred after the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. The periods before and after 1949, marked by major events, are used for comparison purposes. This study shows that traditional city form was developed from a deeply rooted cultural heritage. The physical form of the walled city represents the concept that the city is the symbol of the cosmos. The study also shows that, after 1949, political ideology and socio-economic policy, together with the introduction of foreign ideas and new technology, played an important role in shaping the new city form of Peking.; The residential components of the city, the courtyard houses and the hutong neighborhood, are included as part of the research, for they are an integral part of the city structure. The traditional house form represents the symbol of the family centered on the Confucianism of the social hierarchy. The house is a miniature of the society. Today's new house form, with its large scale high-rise blocks, represents a new ideology of socialism. It has altered the landscape of the city, changed the structure of the family and the way of life of the people. |
