People's Park (2007-2008)
Looking through my family photographs, apart from the customary family portraits in front of the same
Christmas Trees and behind birthday cakes, most of the photos taken of me, my brother and my sisters were during our day trips out at various parks.
I have just a few memories of these pictures being taken. However, I still have such vivid memories of all the parks we used to go to. The penguin bins, the bumper cars, the trains and the ice cream stalls are all so clear in my mind, little snippets of memories that make up my childhood.
In 1958, at the beginning of ‘The Great Leap Forward’, when private ownership was banned, many existing parks were renovated and new parks were built all across China for the people, many were renamed People’s Parks. Over the years, they became main focal points of the cities, where families have their outings and couples meet. Children’s amusement parks and Zoos were often built within these parks to provide
entertainment for the local children.
China is changing at a staggering pace, the economic miracle means that the Chinese are enjoying a much
more affluent lifestyle. Shopping and Internet have replaced bumper cars and Ferris wheels. Instead of meeting and interacting with each other in the parks, people are fixated on their phones and spend less and less time in public with friends and family. Many of these parks have fallen to a state of disorder. However, many workers are still employed by the government to upkeep these parks and they remain open for the people.
As more and more people move into the cities to find work and the increasing number of factories produce pollutants, these parks have taken on a new role to become the lungs of the cities. However, they face an uphill battle form developers as the majority of these parks are situated in prime real estate locations, usually in the city centres. Many have already been redeveloped into luxury housing and shopping centres. Urban developers have an important role to play finding an balance between progress and preserving natural order, between growth and sustainability.