Fascinating Photo Exhibition Takes You Back to 1970s Beijing

Chenkuang H. theBeijinger

China might be the country that has changed faster than any other in human history. Beijing, as the capital, is a prime example of those rapid changes.

Still in the midst of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, the 1970s was an utterly fascinating period in Beijing when everything seemed so totally different from today, unrecognizable even, such as the image of Qianmen at the top of this article.

The corner of Dongsi Santiao

A collection of old black-and-white photos capturing that period of the capital's history is currently on exhibition at the Earthquake and Architectural Science Educational Museum near Olympic Park. Curated by the Urban Construction Archive, the exhibition looks to highlight the significant achievements Beijing has made in municipal development over the past four decades.

Jinyu Hutong

As vast and all-encompassing as the changes to Beijing's landscape have been, during our viewing we happened to overhear one of the elderly visitors say, “It’s heartbreaking to look at the pictures of hutongs that don’t exist anymore.”