the Chinese Way & the Japanese Way

When speaking of national historical site, such as imperial palaces and gardens, different countries employ different methodology to process and reconstruct these spaces of heritage. Modernization of the cityscape took these spaces of the old into the next level. Tourism becomes an important aspect of consideration and main target when governments are dealing with these significant spaces. China and Japan use two totally different approaches on dealing with these historical spaces. Two precedents are being compared to reveal the extremeness of both cases, the Summer Palace in Beijing, and the Katsura in Kyoto.

The Summer Palace is located in the Northern part of Beijing around the university area. In order to promote the popularity and attract more tourists into the Summer Palace, an extensive subway and bus system is developed around the palace site. As a result of the growth of popularity, legal and illegal businesses started to flourish around the palace area to bring even more tourists into the space. The Chinese focuses highly on the commercial value of the old palaces. Unlimited number of tourist entrance is allowed. Every day, summer palace is flooded with crowds of tourist groups, local stalls, and foreigners from all over the world. Due to the large crowd of visitors, historical preservation of the original fragile structure and security control become impossible. Supplements are added to the structures to give direct protection, such as glasses, plastic framings, and steel cages. Security cameras and speakers are inserted everywhere onto the structures directly. Some structures are even rebuilt using cheaper materials, or simply become a replica of the original structure.

Japanese took a totally different approach in managing their historical spaces. A clear example will be the Katsura, located 30 minutes outside of central Kyoto. Different from the Summer Palace, Katsura can only be visited with appointment. Only 50 people are allowed to get in per day, and designated visitors must sign up for different time slot. The whole tour is closely monitored with a tour guide and a security guard following behind the group. Once the visitor entered the imperial garden spaces, nothing can be touched, played or sit on. The places to stand and travel are all guided clearly through little wooden fences and stone pebbles. Due to this highly secured nature of the tour, preservation of the original structure becomes possible. In Japanese historical site, such as the Katsura, everything is preserved as their original look without any alternation, supplements or addition. Even the plantations are carefully maintained and staged as its original looks. Both the Chinese and the Japanese approach of objectifying historical spaces are successful with different value, either commercial or symbolical.