The capital of modern China, which will soon welcome the 2008 Olympic Games, Peking, is also a city with a very rich past of over 3000 years. The capital of the Mongol, Ming and Manchou dynasties has at its architectural heart, The Forbidden City, a place unique in the world, a horizontal city that is made up of a multitude of areas and houses with square courtyards called Hutongs.
The photographs of Jean-Lionel Dias, taken in the spring, summer and autumn of 2006 are a silent witness to the rapid disappearance of the traditional city: areas already bulldozed buildings in the midst of demolition, but also the metamorphoses of «the centre of the centre» of modern Peking, the renovation of certain areas, the opening of art galleries, new restaurants. It is true to say that this is a city, like its population is capable of changing and re-inventing itself without loosing its soul or historic image.
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The capital of the Mongol, Ming and Manchou dynasties has at its architectural heart, The Forbidden City, a place unique in the world, a horizontal city that is made up of a multitude of areas and houses with square courtyards called Hutongs.
