喬納森·查特溫

Chinas original ‘model city matters more than ever.中國原先的“示范”城市比以往任何時候都重要。

By 2035， Chinas government expects over 70% of the countrys population—around a billion people—to be living in cities. China is， with increasing haste， looking to develop entirely new urban areas in order to provide homes， jobs and infrastructure—all while driving economic growth.

The most high-profile of these is Xiongan， a new city being built across three counties in Hebei province， 100 kilometers to Beijings south west. Its expected to house up to 2.5 million people. Large-scale construction began in 2019 and， over the next decade， an ambitious government plan will see many of Beijings businesses， universities and hospitals relocated to this new city， alleviating pressure on the capital and encouraging hi-tech economic development in a traditionally industrial area.

Across the country， Chinas government is investing trillions of yuan to establish new areas and development zones， many of which act as satellites to existing cities. To the south of Chengdu， the cap-ital of Sichuan province， Tianfu New Area has been developed over the last decade and is soon set to open Unicorn Island， a 166-acre technology hub designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. In Changsha， capital of Hunan province， the vast and similarly ambitious Xiangjiang New Area is intended to attract hi-tech industry and is home to the countrys first test zone for autonomous public transport.

These projects all look back to one city for inspiration： the godfather of urban transformation and the countrys “model” city， Shenzhen. Now home to over 13 million people， the southern metropolis is the Chinese governments proudest symbol of the last 40 years of economic reform.

Building on Shenzhen

On September 4， 1984， the sound of firecrackers echoed through the streets of Shenzhen as the city celebrated the completion of the International Trade Center， its—and， at the time， Chinas—tallest building.

Deng Xiaoping， the countrys then paramount leader， had visited the site earlier that year and had given the pro-ject his seal of approval1. The speed of construction， which—though it began slowly， partly due to a lack of proper equipment—eventually reached a rate of one new floor every three days. The pace with which the upper floors of the tower were built2 became known as “Shenzhen speed，” part of the pervasive mythology that clouds the origins of this so-called “Instant City.”

For visitors to Shenzhen in the 1980s， the 50-story skyscraper dominated the citys skyline. Over time， however， neighboring buildings would reach， and then exceed， the International Trade Center. As Juan Du， an architect and author of new book “The Shenzhen Experiment” observed in an email interview： “This cluster of tall buildings became the image of Chinas post-reform modernization and urbanization.”

Special Economic Zones

As China began reforming its economic system and opening up to the world， Shenzhen was established as one of Chinas first four “Special Economic Zones，” or SEZs. All four were chosen for their favorable geographical position and access to global markets， with Shenzhen located just across the river from the international hub of Hong Kong.

The countrys urban spaces have long emphasized the importance of symmetry， with streets traditionally laid out in straight lines running east to west and north to south. Following these principles， Shenzhen initially spread out along its first east-west avenue， whilst the citys main Central Business District was laid out along a prominent north to south axis， flanked by skyscrapers and landmark architectural projects.

Shenzhen was not， however， a blank slate onto which a symmetrically ordered city could be drawn. Existing villages within the boundaries of the Special Economic Zone grew exponentially， as they were often the first destinations for the thousands of newcomers looking for an affordable place to live.

Those who owned village properties would quickly extend their houses upwards and outwards to offer low-rent accommodation for new arrivals. “Without the villages， the city would never have grown with the famous ‘Shenzhen speed，” Jonathan Bach wrote in “Learning from Shenzhen，” a collection of essays on the city. “The city could never have sustained the cost of housing and supporting so much labor.”

A new city center

One source of new land has been found by building onto what was once the sea. Through extensive land reclamation， the waterfront at the citys southern edge was extended into the bay almost 20 years ago. A new city center business district， dubbed Shenzhen Bay Headquarters City， is now being built on that land.

In a city where “oversize impassable highways crisscross the city and isolate neighborhoods from each other，” as Claude Godefroy of Henning Larsen Architects put it， Shenzhen Bay will be pedestrian friendly. A waterfront promenade will be lined with bars and restaurants， correcting “an historic failure in Shenzhens urban planning： its disconnection with the sea，” he added. “Citizens complain that they sometimes forget they are living in a coastal city.”

Xiongan， the new model city

Beijings new satellite city， Xiongan， is Chinas latest attempt to replicate the success of Shenzhen. State media has referred to Xiongan as the “Shenzhen of the North”.

There are differences between Xiong- ans development and that of Shenzhen， however. It will mainly serve a center for domestic， rather than international， industries. The government also emphasizes that Xiongan will be a green “smart city，” built on a more human scale and with lower population density than sprawling megacities3. The city will be comparatively low-rise， and free from the ever-taller skyscrapers that define most new urban developments.

When Xiongan was first announced， a rush of real estate trading led the government to freeze property sales. The government has subsequently restricted speculation further by announcing that housing in Xiongan will be subject to strict state controls—a substantial change to the policy of Shenzhen， where property development was a key driver of economic growth.

One key similarity between the two cities， however， is in the way Xiongan will be integrated into a greater conglomeration of urban centers. Just as Shenzhen now blends almost impercept-ibly into the Pearl River Deltas other cities， such as Guangzhou and Dongguan， so Xiongan will be connected via high-speed rail with Beijing and Tianjin， to its east， to form a 130-million-person megalopolis nicknamed ‘Jing-Jin-Ji （a portmanteau4 of the names of Beijing， Tianjin and “Ji，” an ancient name for Hebei province）.

The extent to which Xiongan will copy—or diverge from—the template established by the model city of Shenzhen remains to be seen. But what is indisputable is that Shenzhens example remains hugely influential in Chinas urban planning， even four decades after the city was established.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?■

中國政府預(yù)計，到2035年，將有70%以上的人口（約10億）生活在城市。中國在推動經(jīng)濟增長的同時，正以越來越快的速度尋求發(fā)展全新的城市區(qū)域，以提供住房、就業(yè)機會和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。

其中最引人注目的是雄安——一個橫跨河北省三個縣、距北京西南100公里的在建新城。雄安新區(qū)預(yù)計可容納250萬人。大規(guī)模建設(shè)始于2019年，按照政府龐大的規(guī)劃，在未來10年，北京的許多企業(yè)、大學(xué)和醫(yī)院將搬遷到這個新城市，從而減輕首都的壓力并鼓勵這片傳統(tǒng)工業(yè)區(qū)發(fā)展高科技經(jīng)濟。

中國政府在全國各地投資數(shù)萬億元人民幣建立新區(qū)和開發(fā)區(qū)，其中許多都是現(xiàn)有城市的衛(wèi)星城。在四川省省會成都以南，當?shù)卣^去十年來一直在建設(shè)天府新區(qū)，并且很快開放由扎哈·哈迪德建筑師事務(wù)所設(shè)計、占地166英畝的技術(shù)中心——獨角獸島。在湖南省省會長沙市，面積廣闊且同樣目標宏大的湘江新區(qū)旨在吸引高科技產(chǎn)業(yè)落地，并且它還是中國第一個自動駕駛公交試驗區(qū)的所在地。

這些項目的靈感都來自一個城市：城市轉(zhuǎn)型的鼻祖、中國“示范”城市——深圳。如今，這座擁有超過1300萬人口的南部大都市是中國政府過去40年經(jīng)濟改革最引以為傲的象征。

建設(shè)深圳

1984年9月4日，深圳街頭鞭炮齊放，慶祝國貿(mào)大廈竣工。深圳國貿(mào)大廈是深圳乃至當時中國最高的建筑。

當時的國家最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人鄧小平在那年早些時候親臨現(xiàn)場，并正式批準了該項目。施工起步緩慢，部分原因是缺乏適當?shù)脑O(shè)備，但最終達到了三天新建一層樓的速度。大樓高層的建造速度被稱為“深圳速度”。關(guān)于深圳這座所謂“速生城市”的緣起眾說紛紜，種種說法就像有流傳甚廣的神話云山霧罩，而這一速度是神話的一部分。

對于20世紀80年代到深圳的游客來說，這座50層高的摩天大樓成了深圳天際線上的重要地標。但是漸漸地，附近會有建筑達到甚至超過國貿(mào)大廈的高度。新書《深圳實驗》的作者杜娟是一名建筑師，正如她在一次電子郵件訪談中所說的那樣：“這些高樓大廈構(gòu)成了中國改革后現(xiàn)代化和城市化的形象?！?/p>

經(jīng)濟特區(qū)

隨著中國開始改革經(jīng)濟體制并向世界開放，深圳被確立為中國最早的四個“經(jīng)濟特區(qū)”之一。選擇這四個城市是因為它們具有優(yōu)越的地理位置和進入全球市場的機會，而深圳與國際樞紐香港隔河相望。

長期以來，中國的城市空間一直強調(diào)對稱的重要性，依照傳統(tǒng)，街道沿東西向和南北向直線排列。深圳遵循這些原則，最初沿它的第一條東西向道路擴展，而它的主要中央商務(wù)區(qū)則沿著明顯的南北軸線擴展，兩側(cè)是摩天大樓和地標性建筑工程。

然而，深圳并不是一塊可以將所有城市規(guī)劃都在上面對稱繪制的空白畫板。由于成千上萬新來的人要尋求負擔(dān)得起的住處，經(jīng)濟特區(qū)范圍內(nèi)的現(xiàn)有村莊往往是他們的首選目的地，因此村莊規(guī)模成倍增長。

那些在村里擁有房產(chǎn)的人迅速向上和向外擴建房屋，為新移民提供租金低廉的住房。喬納森·巴赫在關(guān)于深圳這座城市的文集《向深圳學(xué)習(xí)》中寫道：“沒有這些村莊，這座城市當時絕對不會以著名的‘深圳速度發(fā)展，也絕對承受不了安置和養(yǎng)活如此多勞動力的成本?！?/p>

全新的城市中心

人們發(fā)現(xiàn)了新土地的一種來源——將原有的海域改建為陸地。大約20年前，通過大規(guī)模的填海造陸，深圳南部邊緣的濱水區(qū)擴展到了海灣?，F(xiàn)在，一個被稱為深圳灣超級總部基地的新的市中心商業(yè)區(qū)正在這片土地上建設(shè)。

正如享寧·拉森建筑師事務(wù)所的克勞德·戈德弗羅伊所說，在深圳，“超大型、無法通行的主干道路縱橫交錯，將社區(qū)彼此隔斷”，但深圳灣將是方便行人的。他補充說，還將建一條海濱長廊，兩邊酒吧和餐館林立，由此糾正“深圳城市規(guī)劃的歷史性失誤，即城市與大海不相連……市民抱怨他們有時都忘記自己生活在沿海城市了”。

新興示范城市——雄安

北京的新衛(wèi)星城雄安是中國復(fù)制深圳成功榜樣的最新嘗試。官方媒體稱雄安為“北方的深圳”。

然而，雄安與深圳的發(fā)展模式之間是存在差異的。雄安將主要作為國內(nèi)而非國際產(chǎn)業(yè)中心。政府還強調(diào)，雄安將是一個綠色的“智慧城市”，與無序擴展的巨型城市相比，建設(shè)更加人性化，人口密度也更低。雄安的建筑相對較低，也沒有越建越高的摩天大樓，而后者是大多數(shù)新城市發(fā)展的主要特征。

最初宣布設(shè)立雄安新區(qū)時，房地產(chǎn)交易掀起一股熱潮，這導(dǎo)致政府凍結(jié)了房地產(chǎn)銷售。隨后，政府宣布將對雄安的住房實行嚴格的國家管控，從而進一步限制了投機活動。這與深圳的政策有很大區(qū)別，深圳的房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)曾是那時經(jīng)濟增長的主要驅(qū)動力。

然而，這兩個城市之間的一個主要相似之處在于，雄安也將融入一個更大的城市集群。深圳現(xiàn)在幾乎難以察覺地與廣州、東莞等珠江三角洲的其他城市融合，同樣地，雄安也將通過高速鐵路連接北京和位于它東面的天津，形成一個覆蓋1.3億人口的京津冀城市群——北京、天津和河北?。ü欧Q“冀”）的合稱。

雄安將在多大程度上復(fù)制或偏離深圳示范城市建立的模式，還有待觀察。但毋庸置疑的是，即使在深圳建成40年后，該市的示范作用在中國的城市規(guī)劃中仍然具有巨大的影響力。? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?□

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>

1 seal of approval官方批準，正式批準。

2 1982年6月，中建三局以“滑模施工”中標國貿(mào)大廈工程。如此大面積的滑模施工國內(nèi)尚無先例，項目試驗中前三次試滑均不成功。歷經(jīng)4個月的技術(shù)攻關(guān)，從第5層開始，工程建設(shè)速度越來越快，從30層開始，持續(xù)以3天一層的速度滑升到頂。

3 megacity巨型城市（人口超過一千萬的城市）。

4 = portmanteau word縮合詞，合并詞 （由一個詞的詞首和另一個詞的詞尾合成）。