Topic 65. Should a city try to preserve its old, historic buildings or destroy them and replace them with modern buildings?

Should a city try to preserve its old, historic buildings or destroy them and replace them with
modern buildings? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Sample essay 1.

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 building. 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 can not only 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 an significant piece of history
also. More seriously, we won’t be able to rebuild them. What people need isn’t 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 meeting sites, we seemed to back to that turbulent or excited time. As
if we can hear again what those important historic characters were talked about each other
vigorously.

Moving on to wider themes, I admit that some old buildings have got a bit dilapidated and
unsightly, and haven’t generated any revenue for us any more. But if we can refurbish them, I
believe that they could start to attract visitors to cities again.

From what has been discussed above, I can safely draw the conclusion that we should preserver
these old and historic buildings.

Sample essay 2.

It is a controversial problem that whether a city should preserve its old,historic buildings or
destroy them and replace them with modrn buildings.Some people think that a city should
preserve its old,historic buildings because they are the witness of the past,others think that a city
should destroy them and replace them with modern buildings because they take up a lot of
places.As far as I am concerned, I prefer the previous idea that the old,historic buildings should be
preserved.

Although the old,historic buildings would take up a lot of places and the modern society will need
these places to building the new buildings such as skyscrapers,the old,historic buildings are the
witness of the history.It is known that a modern city comes from the past history which had a
valuable experience.The old,historic buildings could tell people what happened in the past and
what was the past like.From that,people could gain kownledge and experience to contribute to the
modern society better.

The old,historic buildings could also be offered to education.They can become the teaching bases
for children.It is necessary for children to know the past,so that they can kown better about the
present society.In addition,children will be interested in the strange structure of the buildings and
the funny things in the buildings,which will promote the childern to study.

Finally,the preserved building would offer the important clues for archeologists to study the past.It
is more valuable to maintain them well than destroy them to build new ones.

In conclusion,the old,historic buildings should be preserved for the reasons above.First is that they
are the witness of the past,then they could teach children something and last they are the
important clues for archeologists.

(This is a 5 point essay)

Sample essay 3.

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 can not 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.