Old buildings sometimes conflict with economic advancement. Appealingas it is for business people, the idea of tearing down old architectures to clear theway for real-estate development is unsound in many ways.<br> The primary reason is that old buildings are culturally valuable to a nation, forold buildings, like a native language, form a cultural identity and keep a uniquerecord of a country. For instance, Siheyuan, courtyard residence of Beijing, wasonce seen as the remains of the Old World, and was destroyed shortly after thefounding of Peoples Republic of China. But their cultural values and aestheticappeals have just caught the attention of Chinese people. Not until recently havepeople and policy makers realized that this is an inexcusable crime because oldbuildings, once gone, are not restorable.<br> Moreover, old buildings, if planned and preserved properly, could actuallycontribute to businesses. In France, aged buildings amaze thousands of tourists,bringing millions of dollars of revenue for the government. Yet no one thinksthe high-rising office buildings make the old architectures a sore of the eye. Bycontrast, new buildings incorporate many elements of the old and classic to beunique and more attractive to modem people.<br> Newrtheless, we are not advocating equal.treatment for all old buildings, andsome do need to be torn down, partly because of safety reasons and partly becausethey are indeed causing extreme inconvenience to the inhabitants themselves,because of the outdated sewage system or poor heating system. Despite this, somehistorically significant buildings also deserve our protection and we should not beblind to their worth. If we only take into consideration the short-term benefits, ourcountry will be sorry for their loss in years to come.<br> ……
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