This placid and calm scene is common in Nanchizi, a century-old community outside the east wall of Beijing's Forbidden City.

Yet the area's fate is uncertain, after a massive project to renovate Nanchizi into a "protected" historic zone was launched in May.

The project, strongly opposed by cultural preservationists and residents, has been suspended.

Debate is heating up about the fate of Nanchizi, and, in a larger sense, the principle and practice of protecting Beijing's 25 old streets as historic and cultural zones.

Long history

Historically a part of the Forbidden City, Nanchizi, a traditional street in Beijing's Dongcheng District, was home to major royal depositories in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), including royal storehouses of silk, meat and grain.

Several old courtyards with grey and strong walls and two-storey turrets to prevent pilfering still stand there to record history.

Some princes, including Duorgun (1612-1650), regent and uncle of Emperor Shunzhi (1638-1661), also lived in the area, and Duorgun's palace later became Pudu Temple.

After the Revolution of 1911 ended the Qing Dynasty's rule, Nanchizi was opened to the public and gradually became a residential zone.

The long and unique history and the vivid architectural features - a combination of royal and residential buildings - ensured that the old community was listed as one of 25 historic and cultural protection zones in Beijing in 2000.

Last year, Nanchizi was further ranked as a trial area for historic protection.

Local residents welcomed the decision. For owners of bigger private houses, it was an opportunity to refurbish their buildings and courtyards.

And for those huddling in small rooms and sharing the same courtyard with other families, it was a chance to improve their living conditions.

Last October, a municipal regulation on historic and cultural zone protection, commonly called the "101 Document," stipulated the importance of protecting original courtyards and encouraging residents with poor living conditions to move. It said the government would subsidize those refurbishing their houses and those moving out.

Controversial plan

Yet to the local residents' dismay, they received a notice from the local district government in May requiring all residents to move out for the protection of the historic zone. They would be compensated with 5,900 yuan (US$710) per square metre of their current living area.

They grew angry that they suddenly no longer had the option of refurbishing their homes.

Similarly, residents in Nanchizi got a public letter from the Dongcheng District Real Estate Operation and Management Centre, an organ affiliated with the district government in charge of relocation in old streets.

The letter stated that "besides demolishing temporarily built houses, commercial two-story buildings will be erected in parts of Nanchizi to collect funds for historic zone protection."

The public notice angered the old residents there. "What's intolerable is that our centuries-old houses will be replaced with newly built ancient-style two-storey buildings, which is a shame to the historic protection zone," said Xie Yuchun, a middle-aged resident in Nanchizi who owns a house of 150 square metres.

Architectural and history experts have expressed their strong opposition to the renovation plan in Nanchizi.

"You cannot substitute the centuries-old houses with shoddy ancient-style housing," said Zheng Xiaoxie, a renowned architect and ancient construction consultant to the Ministry of Construction.

Both residents and experts urged officials to follow the principle of the "101 Document" to protect the original houses in Nanchizi.

"I would pay the cost to refurbish my home myself if it meant I would not have to move," said one middle-aged local resident.

But Cai Yaozhong, director of the Dongcheng District Real Estate Operation and Management Centre, said "the renovation plan has not been finalized."

Cai said only nine courtyards of the 240 yards in Nanchizi would be kept intact, and 50 percent of residents in the area would be moved. He said many houses in Nanchizi built after the founding of New China in 1949 were temporary or illegal.

Cai said Nanchizi would not be replaced with new two-storey buildings.

Although the renovation project was suspended last month after the Ministry of Construction and Beijing municipal government intervened, it is only temporary.

Protection zones

For cultural protection experts, the suspension of renovation projects in Nanchizi offers no excuse for a rest.

"Beijing's listing of 25 protection zones is great progress, but there are too many details to be worked out in the protection of the zones," said Jiang Zhongguang, a professor with the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, who has been doing research on the preservation plan of Nanchizi for two years.

The 25 streets take up 957 hectares. Together with historic buildings such as the Forbidden City and the Confucius Temple, the protected historic blocks make up 37 percent of Beijing's old urban areas, which used to be encircled by ramparts.

Many urban people, including officials, consider those old houses dilapidated. The simple way to protect the zone is to demolish the dilapidated houses and reconstruct new ones in the traditional style, according to Liu Xiaoshi, former director of the Beijing Urban Planning Bureau.

But Li Yan, a Tsinghua University art professor, said that the characteristics of those old houses could not be restored after reconstruction and that demolishing those old houses would destroy the traditional appearance of the original Beijing.

"If the pattern of destruction continues, we would only have a capital city, not the traditional Beijing we know and love," Li said.

The main problem with the old courtyard houses is that they are too congested. In the past, these courtyards usually housed one big extended family.

Today, several families of two to three generations share a courtyard. As a result, quite a number of families should be encouraged to move so as to restore the original appearance of the old houses, officials said.

Yet the scale and method to move out residents needs careful study and execution.

Besides sparking residents' complaints, their moving could lead to the disappearance of folk customs.

Francesco Bandarin, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, said on a recent visit to China that the point of being a world cultural heritage site is to closely connect residents with local buildings and culture.

Money is another major obstacle for urban planners in their efforts to preserve the protected zones. Cai said the principle of protecting the original houses and courtyards in the "101 Document" was infeasible largely due to the lack of investment.

In 2000, the municipal government allotted 330 million yuan (US$39.8 million) for the protection of 25 historic zones. But compared to the daunting task of relocating residents and maintaining old buildings, the money is just a drop in the bucket.

Cai said the market is the only solution to offset the capital gap, which means selling better-conditioned old houses to collect money as in the suspended project in Nanchizi.

If Xie Yuchun moved out of Nanchizi, he would be compensated with more than 1 million yuan (US$120,480).

But the new two-storey building to be erected in his courtyard could be sold for more than 3 million yuan (US$361,450), according to Xie, citing the real estate operation centre's officials.

It doesn't take a finance whiz to know that money talks.

Experts said that funds can be raised through the market, residents' wishes and property rights must be respected.

That may result in a slower process to refurbish and remedy old houses.

But "why so quickly? The protection can't be completed overnight," said Li of Tsinghua. "It is a great task worth a lifetime to achieve."

(China Daily July 10, 2002)