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Topic 65 Should a city preserve or destroy its historic buildings?

The issue here is whether old, historic buildings in a city should be preserved or replaced by modern buildings. In my opinion, buildings of historical value should definitely be protected rather than destroyed. I base my point of view on following reasons.

Firstly, each historical building is precious property of human being. Like an antic, the value of an old building cannot be measured by money. We will lose those valuable historical buildings permanently if we don't preserve them. Once a historical building is destroyed, we can never restore it; even if it is restored to its original look, the new building is only a fake replica; the historical value will never come back to us.

Secondly, a historic building always represents history and has educational functions. Each one of them can tell us a story. For example, some buildings are evidences of foreign invasion, others are signs of various religions existed in past decades. People nowadays can always obtain historic or cultural information through visiting these old buildings and sites. Although we can learn the past from books, pictures and by visiting museums, nothing can compare with the actual historical buildings themselves, which can bring vivid educational material to us.

Thirdly, historical buildings are a symbol of a city and a valuable tourist resource; therefore a city cannot go without historical buildings. Beijing is represented by the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, which are all historical relics. It is hard to imagine that someday the City of Beijing decides that all these buildings should be destroyed and modern buildings be built on their sites. Because those historical relics and buildings are too important to the city and can generate profound tourist income. A city will benefit more by protecting its historic buildings than by replacing them with modern buildings.

For all reasons given above, I will strongly suggest a city municipal should preserve the old, historic buildings.

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Topic 65 Should a city preserve or destroy its historic buildings?

Whether the city should try to preserve its old, historic building or destroy them? I believe that different people will have different opinions. According to my experiences, I think that we should preserve these old, historic buildings. I like to use following reasons to explain why I think so.

The first and important reason is that every old building represents an important piece of history. Undoubtedly, they can reflect contemporary culture, custom and life style, etc. For example, the former Imperial Palace in China, where ancient emperors have ever stayed, has had a longstanding history as long as over 2,000 years. Through it, we not only can remember many famous historical events, but can also know that ancient people have grasped very advanced architecture techniques and methods.

I believe if we demolish these valuable buildings, we will destroy a significant piece of history. More seriously, we will not be able to rebuild them. What people need is not the duplication or copy. In many old cities, there are some old houses at where there were many important meetings hold. When we visited old sites, we seemed to go back to that turbulent and exciting time - as if we can hear what those important historic characters were talking.

I admit that some old buildings have become a bit dilapidated and unsightly, and have not generated any revenue. But if we can refurbish them, I believe that they could start to attract visitors again. From what has been discussed above, I can safely draw the conclusion that we should preserver these historic buildings.

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