Brief background description
Undergraduate:
Peking University, majoring in urban planning.
Master's:
University of Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Major.
Doctor:
London School of Economics and Political Science Urban and Regional Planning.
When many people ask me what my major is?
In hearing"Heritage Protection".After that, it is often accompanied by a few questions:
What is this for?
Why study this major?
While each of us often deals with "heritage", people are often unaware of their existence or importance.
Heritage protection, to put it bluntly, is the protection of all kinds of heritage.
Not only the UNESCO World Natural Heritage, Cultural Heritage, Mixed Heritage, Cultural Landscape, and Intangible Cultural Heritage, but also all kinds of buildings, landscapes, oral histories, performance forms, handicrafts, etc., including but not limited to the well-known "scenic spots" such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.
An ancestral hall that has been passed down for hundreds of years in an unknown village can also be, and should be, an object of our protection.
In recent years, the protection of historic districts and the renewal of old cities, which have become more and more important at the national policy level, also belong to the category of heritage protection.
Of course, so far, the main object in the field of heritage protection has been tangible built heritage such as buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes.
The backgrounds of heritage conservation students often include architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, art, art history, archaeology, history, sociology, museology, environmental design, etc., so heritage conservation is a fairly interdisciplinary discipline.
The entry threshold for heritage conservation is not high, and many drafting software such as Auto CAD, ArcGIS, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, SketchUp, Rhino, etc. can be slowly taught by yourself.
Under the profession of heritage conservation, building restoration is the most professional oneA certain foundation in physical chemistry is required in order to learn building structures and materials, but it is not very difficult and unattainable.
Heritage conservation is a rather niche profession in both China and the United States.
The common characteristic of our small group is that they have a great interest and enthusiasm for traditional culture, such as historical buildings.
So, if you have similar hobbies and want to do your part to preserve and pass on traditional culture, you can consider joining this big family.
So far, there are very few undergraduate, master's and doctoral majors in "heritage protection" in China, but under the architecture, planning, landscape, archaeology and other majors of various universities, they can engage in heritage protection research, but the focus of different disciplines and different universities is different.
For example, architecture and landscape focus on the protection and utilization of ancient buildings, planning focuses on the protection of blocks and famous cities, archaeology focuses on the restoration and protection of ancient buildings, etc.;
Traditional architecture universities such as Tsinghua University, Tongji University, and Tianjin University are based on design, and more emphasis is placed on the protection and utilization of micro single buildings or building complexes;
Universities based on human geography, such as Peking University and Nanjing University, focus more on macro policy analysis, protection concepts and theoretical innovation, and students can choose according to their needs and interests.
When many people learn that I am studying heritage conservation in the United States, they often ask: The United States is only 200 years old, what can be protected?
Actually, this is a great misunderstanding of my profession and about American heritage preservation.
First, how a country defines heritage has a big impact on the amount of heritage in that countryBy the definition of the United States, the number of American legacies is not small.
National parks, such as Yellowstone National Park, are also part of the U.S. Heritage Conservation Category.
Second, from the perspectives of policies, laws and regulations, planning and design, as well as public participation, NGOs, and non-profits, the United States has formed a relatively complete and rigorous system for heritage protection, and has made great achievements in the field of heritage protection.
In the course of modern heritage protection in European and American countries, the protection of several large public buildings such as Penn Station in the 60s of the last century in the United States is of milestone significance.
Third, the United States includes the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, Columbia University, Cornell University, etcMany universities have set up a special master's degree in heritage conservationEach has its own focus and characteristics, which is a good choice for students who want to study abroad.
Figure 1: Distribution of U.S. Heritage Conservation Master's Programs **Peng Zhang, Shuang Wu. (2018).Heritage Conservation Education at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Architectural Heritage, (01), 33(Based on the American Council on Education for Historic Preservation**.)
In contrast, the protection of modern heritage in China started relatively late.
Although the number of our heritage sites far exceeds that of most countries in the world, and the number of world heritage sites has ranked first in the world, there are still great deficiencies or even gaps in the protection and utilization.
Since the state put forward the concept of "protecting nostalgia", heritage protection has become an important part of China's future urban development and construction.
It can be said that there is a lot of room for development in China's heritage protection, and more professionals are urgently needed to join in.
Compared with the liberal arts students who sit in the library all day long to read literature and write **, and the science and engineering students who spend all day in the laboratory doing experiments and running data, the life inside and outside the school of the heritage protection major is quite colorful, especially for those who like to travel and take pictures.
Although students majoring in physical geography and geology and some students majoring in social sciences also need to do field work and go out into the field, the destinations of our field work are often very attractive historical buildings.
As an undergraduate, my design courses pushed me to travel through many magical streets and alleys in Beijing.
I have also sent questionnaires and conducted interviews in the ancient city of Mount Tai and Pingyao.
However, master's studies in the United States are more enriching and difficult than those of undergraduates.
During my master's degree, in addition to attending classes and completing homework such as small **, my study life also included visiting various museums and exhibition halls, doing historical research with film cameras in urban archives, and completing studio projects ...... other cities
Figure 2: The City Archives of Philadelphia, USA, reading handwritten title deeds in English on a film machine (**taken by the author in September 2017).
When inquiring about the handwritten English title deeds in the 18th and 19th centuries in the city archives, you need to find out the building you want to study from the massive materials, carefully distinguish the flowery English, sort out the changes of the plot and the building, the architectural history, and find out the people who once lived in the house;
When studying the history of American architecture, you need to memorize the English names of various building components, many terms do not even have corresponding words in Chinese, and you have also experienced memorizing the architectural age, architect, geographical location, cultural importance and other information of more than 300 historical buildings within a week;
In the case study of building pathology, it is necessary to regain the knowledge of physics and chemistry that has been abandoned for many years, and think about why the windows of this historic building are cracked, and whether the attic of that historic building can be ...... with some type of thermal insulation material
Figure 3: The history of American architecture course studies the structure of a Gothic church (**Drawn by the author, photographed in September 2017).
For my two studio courses, I went to Cuenca, Ecuador (to conduct research on the conservation planning of historic urban areas in small and medium-sized cities in Latin America) and Detroit (to conduct research on community conservation planning with the core concept of tactical preservation).
Figure 4: Cuenca Historic District, Ecuador (**Photo taken by the author in March 2018).
A summer practice course went to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia (to conduct a policy study on urban heritage conservation guided by the concept of the United Nations New Urban Agenda).
These tourist attractions are difficult for ordinary people to have the opportunity to go, and even if they do, they will not be accompanied by the staff of the ** department to explain, help understand and know.
In Tbilisi, the hotel we live in is a youth hostel converted from an abandoned textile factory, and the interior decoration and graffiti of the hostel are eye-catching, which can be said to be a very successful case of historical building renovation and utilization.
Figure 5: Tbilisi, Georgia (**Self-photographed by the author in May 2018).
I have always believed that the major of heritage conservation is the best practice of "reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles".
Since studying this major, not only the travel required for the course, but also the way I travel has changed radically: I never follow a tour group, I don't take a car when I can walk, I don't take the subway when I can take the bus (because I can see the cityscape by bus, but when I take the subway, it is dark and I can't see anything), and I take pictures of all kinds of buildings, streets, and ......
I was in Paris, alone from La Défense all the way down the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe and then to the Eiffel Tower.
The scenery and the Parisian city life you see along the way are completely different from those of others. When traveling, what we consider is not whether the scenic spot is beautiful or worth visiting, but what are the deficiencies of its protection, how its display and utilization can be improved, and how to reconcile and balance the relationship between tourism development and protection, etc.
This way of traveling is very tiring, but it will give you a deep understanding of a city.
The maps, street patterns, and landmarks of the cities I've been to have been so etched in my mind that even if I return to the city much later, I can still find my way on my own without major demolitions.
Therefore, I have always been glad that I chose this major, because I can experience different city life in ways that others can't think of or use.
When it comes to career development, the income from heritage conservation is far less attractive than that of finance and computers.
So far, the heritage conservation industry is still a profession where there is not so much demand for jobs, and of course, the supply of graduates is not large.
Out of interest in academic research, I chose to pursue a PhD and pursue a career in teaching and research at a university in the future.
I chose the UK as my PhD destination because I wanted to learn more about the advanced experience of heritage conservation in the UK after I had a more comprehensive understanding of heritage conservation in the United States.
The United Kingdom is one of the first countries in Europe and the United States to carry out large-scale heritage protection practices, and its policies, regulations, financial support, and registration system are very different from those of the United States. The UK's long history and the amount of heritage may also be more relevant to our country.
If you are directly employed, the departments for the protection or heritage protection of famous historical and cultural cities of various planning institutes and design institutes (such as the Chinese Academy of Planning and Planning, Tsinghua Tongheng, and Tongji Planning Institute), designer firms, heritage research institutions (such as the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, Guowenyan), museums, and relevant departments (such as land, housing and construction, development and reform) are all units that can be selected.
People in the field of heritage conservation are often far more spiritual and socially responsible than material, and they are also very brave to follow their interests and not follow the crowd.
Our principle is to preserve as much of our heritage and the shared memory that it carries while being able to feed ourselves and our families.
However, many people in life still have a lot of misconceptions about heritage protection, thinking that what we advocate is to refuse change and demolition, and even if the people living in the hutongs don't even have independent toilets, we don't want to make any changes to the hutongs; Even with the rapid development of technology, we want the people of traditional villages to always maintain a primitive way of life, even if the living conditions and productivity levels are extremely low.
In fact, these are not the real pursuits of heritage conservation.
What we really hope to achieve is a reasonable control of the direction and speed of change, that is, to reject sudden changes and major changes.
Improving infrastructure, improving the quality of life and preserving historic buildings are not in conflict, but how to use the right materials and design techniques to transform historic buildings to make them more comfortable for residents. what kind of industries will be introduced so that new and old residents can live in harmony and enhance the sustainable development of the heritage; How to integrate heritage as an integral part of urban and rural environments, rather than as separate individuals, can be better integrated into the overall development of cities.
Figure 6: Selected outcomes of the Historic Preservation Studio course (short-, medium- and long-term reuse strategies for a group of historic buildings in a Detroit neighborhood) (*self-drawn by the author and teammates).
The popularity of "National Treasure" and the Forbidden City's cultural and creative industries shows that the heritage protection industry has great development potential and good development prospects.
For students who are interested in exploring this field, now is a good time to enter the industry.
In addition to the United States and the United Kingdom, there are also many suitable projects to choose from in traditional heritage preservation powerhouses such as Italy and France.
I hope that every student can find their own interests and achieve something in their favorite field.