Beijing Ground Colony

35 years after one child policy, the product of the policy-the singletons, has come to productive age. This one child generation is the face of the new china culture, including social media and consumptive behavior. Some of them are preparing for another generation of singletons. Based on a 2010 national census, one child policy is a success. Although the birth rate has been controlled, people are beginning to worry about the shortage of future young workforce. For this reason, the government has decided to allow singletons dad and mom to have two instead of one child. But since the high living cost in Beijing, many parents who have the privilege don’t think they could afford the price of raising another child. This policy has changed the traditionally large families into inverted pyramids with multiple grandparents for every single child. This is the so called 4-2-1 model. The second generation of single child has responsibilities to take care of both their parents and grandparents. With no extended family, these highly independent nuclear families will have to learn to take care of themselves in the big city. The feeling of loneliness and solitude of those singletons is exaggerated by the monumental Beijing city scale. Those gigantic roads and buildings tend to separate people, which had been separated already by the massive use of social media technology. When face to face interaction could be substituted by social media, we are more likely to find out a group of youngsters, hanging out together, but each of them busy with their gadgets and forget about what is happening in the real world. One may blame the technology for this, but it has brought human a lot of advantages, too. In the brink of 21st century, bionic technology has brought human lives to a very different level. This is a natural process since the transfer of technology between life forms and manufactures is desirable due to an evolutionary pressure that forces living organisms to become highly optimized and efficient. At first, researches were applied on medical field to cure sickness and help people with special needs but later it has become more and more integrated with everyday lives. Being casually dependent on the artificial organs, stem cells, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, human species may have entered a new phase of their evolution, where every human is partly natural and partly manufactured. One of the most developed technology is tissue engineering producing biomimetic tissue material. This material adopts characteristics of human tissue network: epithelial, muscle, nervous and connective tissue. The adaptability of the tissue material has triggered a lot of application outside medical field, including food, clothing and housing industries. “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.” After the invention of the biomimetic tissue material, It doesn’t take too long until people realized that they have the chance to live a better life. A lot of them, mostly being singletons and highly independent, have been longing to live in the ground layer, enjoying a communal living just like their ancestor in ancient living quarters did. They gather together and decide to change their own environment, leaving their boring apartment behind and occupy the ground layer. This primitive idea has been supported by an advanced living system, namely TISSUEWAREtm. This movement marks a new era of human inhabitation. By choosing the most suitable tissue material for them, citizens can build their home anywhere, thus choosing their own neighbors and neighborhood. Their new way of communal living make them feel connected to each other. This new ground colonies are highly adaptable and responsive. They are protective and provide safety for the members of colony. At the same time, they are open to new members and attract many expatriates who come to Beijing since the shortage of young urban workforce. The international composition of the colony has strengthen Beijing’s position as a supercity, where its super citizens are those who successfully evolved and have no fear of changes.