项目重现/Developing Progress

Hi Archie:
I wanna have a quick check if you still wanna collaborate the Mind Maps of Shanghai and Beijing. Please feel free to let me know.
Many thanks, Li

Hi Archie:
No worries at all! Everything sounds perfect! I think we can start with the Beijing map since I'm originally from Beijing. Is it OK for you?
All the best, Li

Hey Archie:
So, I’m on my way back to NYC from North Carolina now. I’ll be actively working on the map and the contract tomorrow and let you know if I figure something out.
Yes! Beijing is famous for its ring road system and I think cutting off from the 5th Ring Road is very smart. There's literally nothing much outside 5th. I have already gone through the Illustrator file you sent me. The concentric circles are not very Beijing-ish. Beijing is famous for being square-ish and you can see from the map that at the hub of the city there is the Forbidden City. It’s a rectangle and the development of the city comes from it. I'll make a little change based on the 2nd or 3rd page—the round-cornered rectangles and get back to you asap.
All the best, Li

Hi Archie:
I can make a quick easy try of #5-1 and #6-2 to put longer Chinese names onto the maps and we'll see what's gonna be happening. If we put more circles on the map, I do think that some of them might take the risk of being blocked, then we can just use the original #5 and #6 since the English naming is official and more universal and it'll make the map cleaner.
The reason why I made some of the expressways in two stroke weights is because expressways start from specific points. A lot of them are not expressways anymore when they enter the hub of the city. Do you think adding more 1pt grid system will help ease the change since some of them will merge into the grid? Or do you still prefer to make them consistent all in 2pt? I can send you the file adding more grid in 1pt later today and you can see how it turns out and we can make our decision on this together?
And for the 2nd ring road, yes, it's just its shape having those corners intruding on the south end. I did try a perfect round-cornered rectangle and circle at the very beginning to make the entire map geometrically clean and as minimal as possible, (I promise that I am keeping this in my mind. Lol) but it makes the impression of the city of Beijing weaker. We Beijingers always made this joke of using the Chinese character “凸”
to represent Beijing’s 2nd Ring Road and the impression of the city. So I personally prefer to keep the shape instead of making it simpler. What's your opinion about this?
Quick question: What is the regulation of railways? I didn't find it in the regulation file you sent to me earlier. I saw that your former design of Chicago and Paris have the railway system in it. Is it double stroked path overlapping on top of each other that one is black and the other one white dash? What are the thickness? Please let me know, and then I can add it.
Best, Li

Hi Archie:
Yes. I think #5 is better than #6 since the urban design of the city of Beijing is famous for being in squares. I have checked with several of my close friends who are all originally from Beijing and all of us prefer the square design and we agree that it is more Beijing-ish.
I changed the inner area of the 2nd Ring Rd. back to white. But I made the Forbidden City in black. What do you think?
I have attached the latest file after mapping the most important and influential neighborhoods to this email. Please let me know what concerns or questions you have.
Best, Li

Hi Archie:
I think this feels pretty Beijing and I showed my mom as well, who doesn't understand English at all but she was literally like, this is Beijing, right? So I guess it works. I made some slight changes on this past weekend and let me finally retouch some small things about the neighborhoods and I'll send the .ai file back to you tomorrow if that's gonna OK to give me one more day?
I do have one question, which is also the reason why I need one more day. I'm still debating on some of the translation of the names. You know that Chinese is so different from Latin languages, so there might be some difficulties on the translating part. Unlike French or German, they're relatively less problematic linguistically.
For the famous sites, they have official translations, such as “the Forbidden City.” It is translated based on its meaning instead of simply using the phonetical spelling to mimic its pronunciation. But several neighborhoods don't have official translations ’cause they are more casual and residential, not that significant and influential. Usually, under this sort of circumstance, we just using its phonetical spelling instead. So here comes a potential problem: some specific neighborhoods’ names have auspicious meanings. If we just use their phonetical spellings, the meaning will be loosing. For instance, there is one neighborhood named "紫竹院" in between W. 3rd and 4th Ring Roads. Right now, I'm using phonetical translation, which is “Zizhuyuan” on the map now but actually, if it’s translated based on the meaning, it will go to “Purple Bamboo Park” instead. It shows the language puzzles that our ancestors play—purple is a very powerful and auspicious color in our tradition, which also appears in the authentic name of the Forbidden City in Chinese; bamboo is a metaphor that represents being strong, healthy, and safe and sound. Personally, I prefer to use “Purple Bamboo Park.” So please allow me to have one more day to discuss it with my friends. We are all well-educated and originally from Beijing, speak Chinese and English fluently. So after having some “critique,” I believe the names will come out in a better sense. Please let me know what you think.
Many thanks, Li

Hi Archie:
I just finished revising it on my side. So I was having this conversation debating which translation system to use with 3 other friends last night till 2 and we continued discussed a little this morning. And we decided to apply both but case by case.
During the time the emporers used to rule China, the city of Beijing was pretty much sticking to 2nd Ring Rd—Inner City, Outer City, Imperial City, and Forbidden City. During then, there were very strict urban design rules based on Fengshui. So we decided to use the translating based on their meanings instead of pronunciation for the sites within 2nd Ring Rd. You can see that there are Temple of Heaven, Earth, Sun, and Moon. As for fortifications, we decided to leave them using pronunciations instead of meanings. First, this is more of a common way. Also, they’re too hard to translate and they don’t make that much sense in English but lose its Chinese auspices. For instance: there is Andingmen on N. 2nd Ring Road, whose “men” part means “gate” and the rest—“Anding” is a real word meaning stable, settled, peaceful, and safe and sound. But... Stable Gate?! I'm like... Nah... That is super awkward... For the areas outside 2nd Ring Rd, they are relatively new and the rules are a little less strict. And we agreed on using pronunciations. So I changed “Beixin Bridge” back to “Beixinqiao” etc. I attached the latest file to this email and hope it finds you well.
Many thanks, Li

Hi Archie

No problem! Go for it! 
The 3rd Ring Rd. is the solid line and the dashed line is Beijing Subway 10 train. I removed the dotted line. I simplified the "G103/G108" interchange and I deleted the river layer.
The white dots are the gates of the fortification of the city. They are very famous and there are a lot of neighborhoods and roads naming after them. I think they mark the city's history and they also made Beijing so special and memorable. Most of them are torn down for decades but there are still subway train stops at the same spots and sharing the same names. But this is a debatable element whether to keep them or delete. And yes. It's true. There's literally nothing much southern than S. 2nd Ring Rd. There is still something outside N. S50/5th Ring Rd. but the south is a whole different story. The urban design is pretty uneven.
So for the roads, I do agree that I put too many of them on the map. You can remove the ones you think unnecessary and then I’ll put names next to the ones we still have? It’s true that every road has name(s). But It’s a little different from the system we have here in NYC. Usually, one continuous road using only one name. But in Beijing, even though they are still the same road, but it has different names in every single block and some of the spelling can be very long after translation. So let’s say, you can do some minus first and then I’ll try to name the rest and then let’s discuss it later?
I just attached a new file to this email. And feel free to delete the roads you think unnecessary. There won’t be any chance you could ruin it.
Best, Li

Hi Archie:
Yes! I think it’s super close to being finally printed out. But before that, let me do some final check-ups with every word to kill any possible typos and get the file back to you by the end of this weekend.
Also, I got a question. Do we need to manually kern and adjust a bit on some of the leadings? For instance, the leading of “Yuanmingyuan Park” at top left corner seems a little uneven because of the ascenders and descenders. I can make it more optically symmetrical. Do you think it necessary? Or you prefer to leave it that way? Please let me know.
Best, Li