Shimen (Henan) © Zhou Zhenhua, 1975

For a decade now, China has been immersed in major processes of construction and destruction that have greatly modified its landscape. The exhibition will situate these changes in the country's historical and cultural continuum. It aims to present the reality of the city past and present in four of its dimensions: town planning, architecture, landscape and infrastructure. It will also be an opportunity to compare these realities with the Chinese and Western imaginaries, and with mechanisms of information or propaganda.

The exhibition takes as its basis the presentation of archaeological documents, works of art, models, archive images and contemporary creation. The exhibition layout, unified by the notion of change, is broken down into a dozen independent spaces associated with a Chinese word or concept, or a city that will be presented by means of one of its principal characteristics, with particular emphasis on Beijing, currently embarked on major urban development centring on the Olympic Games.

Some of the sections will be Garden, Character, Earth, Water, Feng shui and Construction / Destruction, and the cities will include Suzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing, Canton, ShangáiShangái and Beijing.