Architecture petrifies the prevalent ideas and living standards of each era. Every building has its story. However, what changes rapidly is the public view of architectural relics due to transformations in political and social systems. Buildings can be elevated as icons of their times by a later generation or condemned. Inevitably, the architecture of the socialist era in Eastern Europe is presently regarded with a great degree of bias and prejudice. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 many communist-era buildings have been completely reconstructed, and many have been demolished regardless of their architectural qualities. Even though the architecture of socialism may serve as a reminder of human fallacy, and thus lead us to self-reflection, we often prefer to casually wipe it out rather than renovate it. Thus, these silent witnesses to our recent past keep quickly disappearing. What is the reality and fate of those relics in China?
