Traditional neighborhoods in Beijing's old city are increasingly being demolished to give room to the commercialization process. This thesis explores the difficulties in the implementation of the state discourse of "the harmonious combination of tradition and development" within the current political economic system of China. Deng's neoliberal reform triggered the rapid modernization and economic growth throughout the country. Forced by the combined aspects of the decentralization of political and economic power to the local regions, the GDP-centered officials' performance and achievement assessment system, and the state goal of building Beijing into a global city, local governments are making every effort to develop at the expense of historical preservation. Under the pressures of economic neoliberal reform, contemporary China seems to have no place for cultural heritage protection. A new kind of Chinese NGO emerged against development-oriented policies to save the traditional neighborhoods.
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