BULLDOZED #1: Prior to winning the Olympics bid in 2001, Beijing was already fast losing its old neighbourhoods to rapid urbanisation. But the deadlines imposed by the 2008 Games practically supercharged this process, cutting short any remaining debate the city might have had about preserving its historical heritage. Though the government has introduced laws since 1983 to protect ancient neighbourhoods and registered cultural sites such as the Forbidden City, the rules are often ignored. Chinese media reports estimate that between 1983 and 2005, the total floor area occupied by traditional Chinese courtyard houses shrank from 17 million sq m to just three million sq m. A study by The Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture also found that only 60 per cent of the 3,679 hutong found in Beijing in the 1980s have remained. Fewer still – an estimated 430 hutong – have retained their original character. Residents in old neighbourhoods, like eastern Qianmen pictured here, are no longer fazed by the sight of wrecking crews and bulldozers right on their door-step.