BANGKOK // Century-old shop houses, twisting alleyways and temples scented with incense still pulsate with the pursuit of old trades and time-honoured rituals of families who have lived in Bangkok’s Chinatown for generations. But probably not for much longer.
Jackhammers and cranes are closing in on one of the last historic quarters of Thailand’s capital as developers and city authorities pursue plans to build subways and high-rises – with little thought to preserving heritage.
The story is common amid the rapid economic development across much of Asia that has raised living standards for millions.
But the relentless drive to build, modernise and emulate the West – combined with a mindset that equates the old with backwardness – has already consigned many traditional communities to rubble, and with them a way of life.
“There is more than just the architecture to preserve in the community. If these old buildings are demolished, the people will go. So will the lifestyle and culture. And that is irreplaceable,” says Tiamsoon Sirisrisak, a researcher on culture at Bangkok’s Mahidol University.
Authorities often say clearing old city quarters is justified because the structures are often decrepit and unsanitary. But while those who move may be pleased with more modern housing, running water, proper toilets and cleaner surroundings, they also often regret the loss of their old neighbourhoods.
Rapid urbanisation, weak legislation, corruption and even some religious beliefs have contributed to the trend. Most Asian cities have ignored recommendations to leave their traditional cores intact and bring modern development to outer areas, as many European cities have done.
Old Phnom Penh survived war and the Khmer Rouge terror, but more than 40 per cent of about 300 French colonial buildings that gave the Cambodian capital its unique character have been destroyed over the past two decades.
In neighbouring Vietnam, demolition of Rue Catinat, a street in the historic heart of Ho Chi Minh City, is proceeding block by block, driven as elsewhere by skyrocketing land prices.
A Vietnamese-French urban research agency found that at least 207 heritage buildings have been destroyed or defaced in the last decade. Only slivers of an earlier Hong Kong remain, hemmed in by a dense cityscape. Hong Kong’s transformation was propelled by the former British government selling off land to developers who rooted out both the traditional Chinese quarters and the legacies of Imperial Britain.
Experts generally agree that China ranks first when it comes to wholesale eradication of material heritage. Raging against the feudal past, the Red Guards destroyed thousands of historic sites during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. In the economic boom that followed, the destruction continued if not intensified.
The razing of historic cores of cities across China, from Kunming in the south to Kashgar in the far west, is Asia’s greatest cultural atrocity, said James Stent, an American involved in heritage preservation in China and Thailand.
A 2011 survey revealed that 44,000 – or a fifth – of about 225,000 important cultural sites in China have fallen victim to construction.
Asia’s younger generation in particular seems uninterested in preservation.
In tropical Thailand, only palaces and religious structures were constructed of substantial materials and deemed worth of preserving, while domestic architecture, mostly of wood, detriorated rapidly and is rarely renovated.
“The idea that you preserve the old wooden house of your grandfather or grand-grandfather is not in the Thai psyche,” said Euayporn Kerdchouay of the Siam Society.
In Bangkok’s Chinatown, 40 old shop houses have been torn down to make room for a subway station intended to ease traffic. Structures up to 12 storeys high will rise in their place.
Some excellent examples of preservation do exist, often driven by tourism. These include the 17th century “machiya” townhouses in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, Beijing’s The Temple Hotel – an award-winning, four-year restoration effort, and the campaign to save the British colonial buildings of Yangon, Myanmar.
But even some success stories have downsides.
Malaysia’s George Town was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2008 for its blend of Asian and colonial architecture, and tourists flocked in and probably saved it from demolition. But longtime tenants were replaced by boutique hotels, cafes and restaurants, and the population dropped from 50,000 to less than 10,000.
“People don’t understand that the inner-city residents have kept our traditions alive,” says Khoo Salma, a Malaysian conservationist. “This has happened to many world heritage sites, where they have become a playground for others and no longer the people’s city. We don’t want the soul of [our] city to die.”
* Associated Press