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Tehran (Iran)
Iran is not blessed with one of the world"s loveliest capitals. Pollution,
traffic snarls, chronic overcrowding(长期过度拥挤)and a lack of responsible planning
have all helped to make Tehran a metropolis that even the most effusive travel
agent would have difficulty praising.
If you"re expecting an exotic(异国请调的)crossroads steeped in oriental
splendour, you"ll be sadly disappointed. The main sights are spread out, but the
hotels are good, the variety of restaurants is impressive, the facilities are
far ahead of those anywhere in the provinces, and the Tehranis are friendly.
There is no real central area, though many budget travellers base
themselves near Emam Khomeini Square in the less appealing south of the city,
where there"s cheap accommodation, fine kebab(烤肉串)and good access to bus and
train transport. Getting lost in Tehran is easy. If you need landmarks, the
Alborz mountains, known as the "North Star" of Tehran, are to the north; and the
huge telephone office at Emam Khomeini Square dominates inner southern Tehran.
Fortunately, most streets that travellers are likely to take are
signposted(给……加路标)in English. Other than that, many streets, such as those
around the Tehran Bazaar(德黑兰集市), have no signposts at all.
The best times to visit are during late spring (mid-April to early June)
and autumn (late September to early November). Avoid coming in winter and the
Iranian New Year (about 21 March) and two weeks after it. Many restaurants close
between dawn and dusk during the month of Ramazan(斋月).
Human settlement of the region dates from Neolithic times(新石器时代), but the
development of Tehran was very slow and its rise to prominence largely
accidental. In AD 1197, after Mongols(蒙古人)sacked and destroyed nearby Rey - the
major urban centre in Persia(波斯)at the time - Tehran began to develop in its
place. From the mid-16th century, Tehran"s attractive natural setting and good
hunting brought it into the favour of the Safavid king, Tahmasb I. It developed
from a moderately prosperous trading village into an elegant, if dusty, city,
and European visitors wrote of its many enchanting vineyards(葡萄园)and gardens. In
1789, Agha Muhammed Khan declared Tehran his capital, and six years later had
himself crowned as shah of all Persia. The town continued to grow slowly under
later Qajar rulers.
From the early 1920s, the city was extensively modernised on a grid system,
and this period marked the start of phenomenal population growth and
uncontrolled urban development. An educated and cosmpolitan middle class elite,
with an open attitude towards Western influence, flourished under the Shah, but
the growth of the city began a trickle of poor, rural migrants that soon turned
into a flood.
The depopulation(居民减少)of the surrounding regions continues to this day as
the rural poor continue to stream into Tehran in ever greater numbers. This
migration has put the city"s infrastructure under enormous pressures. In 1930
the population was 300,000; in 2001 it was estimated to be 12 million. These
pressures often translate into popular revolt, hence Tehran"s central role in
the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and in more recent protests against the clerical
monopolisation of political power. |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:21:01