Yangzhou protects, beautifies its precious ancient areas

Updated: Mar 14, 2018 By Yang Cheng China Daily Print

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In Dongguan Street, part of the Nanhexia Historical Cultural Street Area, overseas reporters were very impressed by two wellpreserved tablets with Emperor Xianfeng's (1831-1861) personal calligraphy: fu, meaning luck, and shou, meaning longevity, granted to the Zhang family.

The current head of the family, Zhang Yesui, is a seventh-generation descendant of Zhang Liangji (1807-1871), the top official governing regions of Hunan, Hubei and Guangxi back then.

The area was one of the first 30 historical cultural street areas to be recognized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

The area was established during the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and Tang Dynasty (618-907), and later became prosperous during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Each family hangs their motto in poster form outside their house along the alleys.

Shi Huajian, an official of the administrative committee of the street, said some 5,000 families have hung out their mottos, a strong reminder of the ancient culture in the area.

Zhang told overseas reporters that his grandfather has a family motto inherited from generations ago: "Committed to good deeds and never thinking too much on good deeds; while devoting no efforts to bad deeds."

His neighbor's goes: "Thinking less could gain longevity, while working hard could gain happiness; the essence of life is frequent satisfaction."

Yangzhou has taken the lead in China in the protection of ancient cultural relics.

Among the 58 sites of the 1,797-kilometer Beiing-Hangzhou Grand Canal that have gained UNESCO world cultural heritage status, Yangzhou has taken pride in four sites being located along the 2,000-meter-long riverbank of the city's Shaobo town.

According to Ding Zhigang, a history expert in Yangzhou, the city has poured millions of yuan into treating the waterway and surrounding environment, including the further renovation of decks, docks and residential areas. The overall investment is projected to reach 150 million yuan ($22.8 million).

Residential houses are being renovated as part of a large-scale project. Some of the residents have moved to apartment buildings so as to leave the ancient residential buildings to be better preserved.

Yangzhou has a 18.25-square-kilometer ancient city area that dates back to the Tang Dynasty, with Song Dynasty (960-1279) relics sites, as well as Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty historical sites.

The city has 11 national-level heritage protection sites, 16 provincial-level ones and 138 city-level ones.

Asian reporters said their countries could borrow the measures and experiences that have been implemented in the city.

Since 2007, the local government has taken efforts to remove unapproved construction, and to improve street scapes and lighting systems.

The local government has also looked for ways to promote both business and sustainable ancient city development.

It has implemented measures to encourage more than 570 householders in the ancient area to refurbish their old buildings, for example the Zhang family.

Yangzhou has undertaken protection work on 35 historical sites that were owned by China's richest salt merchants in ancient times.

Some of the merchants' residences have become UNESCO world heritage sites.

The city paid great efforts to historical cultural inheritance.

To date, a total of 134 museums have been built to display historical and cultural heritage.

Efforts have been made to protect over 90 percent of the traditional streets and bridges in the ancient city to better supply power and water, to increase greenery and to improve firefighting systems.

The city strongly supports the development of time-honored brands such as Fuchun Teahouse and Daqilingge Food Stores.

Galleries, jade cultural demonstration halls and a total of 486 intangible traditional cultural demonstration zones have been set up.

Yangzhou has also promoted its traditional opera development and has established many training and performance sites for people to learn and appreciate the beauty of locally developed opera.