Irina Swain Omeka MetsExport Plugin The software used to generate this document is called Omeka MetsExport, which operates as a plugin for Omeka. Documentation can be found at http://github/MetsExport/ Barrio Chino Barrio Chino The Barrio Chino is a district located in Barcelona, Spain Samuel Alvarado, Victoria Bishop, Grace Langley, Tricia Malcom, Amy Musgrave, Lillie Rhodes, Kendall Schunk, Jayati Vyas Ashley Weingartz Camille Kresz, Benjamin Fraser Camille Kresz 02/16/2017 English, Spanish Document, Still Image Barrio Chino: Description and Important Sites Barcelona is a city that is divided into two major sections: the old city, more specifically the Barrio Chino, and the Eixample. Historically, the Barrio Chino (Fifth District) was a place in Barcelona that remained constantly busy regardless of the bad reputation that it held. People went there to enjoy themselves and relish in the excitement of the nightlife full of sex, music, drugs and consequently disease. Nowadays, the area is characterized by construction sites, graffiti, debris, tight corners, and crooked streets, which paints a negative and grotesque view of El Barrio. The sounds of jackhammers, bulldozers, and breaking concrete that fill the streets creates an atmosphere of discontent and restlessness. The Barrio Chino had a poor reputation around the beginning of the 1900s. It was an area known for illicit activities, decrepit behavior, and libertarian forms of anarchism. It was full of crowded streets, large factories full of immigrants, and homes with people in desolate conditions. Along with these, it was a place that night-life thrived where visitors could gamble and listen to jazz music. Indeed, this borough played and large role in the emergence of various musical styles, including jazz, as well as housing concepts of political change related to libertarian anarchism. Most of the inhabitants of the Barrio Chino worked in factories and workshops. To quote Zarzoso and Pardo-Tomás, “Barrio Chino was home to a “complex coexistence of diverse urban subcultures” (2016: 165). Their cafes, cabarets, and taverns were buzzing with political and social talk. The streets that were known for drugs and prostitution were also home to places for the sick and poor to be cared for. The Barrio Chino is a place that brought medical advances, even despite the lack of attention, such as the layout of the healing houses. Likewise, the Barrio Chino contained anatomical museums, known as museos anatómicos, which helped to popularize medical culture for the masses. The Barrio Chino was also home to the exclusively 1 female Queen Amalia prison dedicated to reforming prisoners. Nonetheless, the ruling government was disgusted, appalled, and wanted a change. (Zarsoso Pardo-Tomas 2016: 165). In April 1932, the Fifth District in Barcelona was poised to see a rapid change, when Francesc Macià, a significant political figure in Barcelona, Dr. Jaume Aiguade, the mayor of the time, and some young Barcelonan architects along with Le Corbusier constructed a plan to overhaul the space. These plans were incredibly aggressive: they proposed tearing down all buildings and roads in the area. Despite having high hopes for the region, very few aspects of the original plan were fully carried out. Construction was essentially halted at the onset of the civil war when the Franco regime came into power. While these improvements were largely positive for the new residents of Barrio Chino, the previous inhabitants faced many hardships with the renovations. Many inhabitants of the city were forced out of their homes and given a settlement for the homes to be rebuilt and sold at a higher price to middle-class homebuyers. The inability to convince middle-class homebuyers of the affluent status of the neighborhood caused the idea of gentrification to fail. The area was renamed El Raval after the post-Olympic era but is still informally known as the Barrio Chino (Zarzoso and Pardo-Tomás 2016: 178). Several important monuments are located in the Barrio Chino, such as the Romea Teater and the church of Sant Pau de Camp. —Edited by Camille Kresz and Benjamin Fraser with text from Samuel Alvarado, Victoria Bishop, Grace Langley, Tricia Malcom, Amy Musgrave, Lillie Rhodes, Kendall Schunk, Jayati Vyas and Ashley Weingartz 2  Item changed by user 26 at 2017-02-23 11:21:28.Updated: CreatorItem changed by user 26 at 2017-02-16 13:08:25.Created manually by user