目前在我国,常有这种情况:如果几年不回老家,就会出现找不到路的尴尬。这不仅说明中国城市景观变化速度之快前所未有,变化的范围极其广大,更重要的是,人们记忆中的所有痕迹,都以最快的速度消失了。我很难说这种现象的持续出现是否部分归因于我们的传统:每当改朝换代,胜利者进城的第一件事便是放一把大火,把原来的宫殿、房子烧个精光。然后再耗尽国库,重新修建象征自己政权统治的宫殿 At present in our country, this kind of situation is often the case: if we do not return to our hometown in a few years, there will be embarrassment in finding a way out. This not only shows that the urban landscape in China is changing at an unprecedented rate, but the scope of its change is extremely vast. More importantly, all traces of people’s memory have disappeared at the earliest possible speed. It is hard to say whether the persistence of this phenomenon is due, in part, to our tradition: the first thing that every victor enters the city of every change is to put a big fire on every change to the palace and house. Then we run out of the treasury and rebuild the palaces that symbolize the rule of our own regime