Shanghai's 700-year-old original downtown area is finally garnering some much-needed attention.
The construction of a public park is under way in the historic neighborhood, which lies in the vicinity of Yuyuan Garden, the area's main attraction.
The Old City area is better known for its gritty urban character than its historic treasures.
The park project is spear-heading a redevelopment and restoration drive in the area, and has brought renewed attention to this locality saturated with Shanghai history.
The area was the site of Shanghai County, founded in 1291, and also Shanghai's first downtown district, where high ranking imperial officials and wealthy business people built palatial residences.
"There was a time when the area outside the Old City walls was considered the suburbs and only those who resided within were considered urbanites," says Gu Yanpei of the Huangpu District Cultural Relics Committee.
There used to be 377 buil-dings and public sites in the Old City, dating back at least 100 years. Only a third of those buildings and sites stand today. Visitors to the area can still see old timber-and-brick buildings of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, but most of them are in poor condition due to neglect.
Yet under the weeds and cracked walls are buildings which testify to Shanghai's past.
Under the redevelopment plan, some of the historic buildings will be preserved, while those in very bad condition await evaluation as to whether they can be restored.
Shuyin Mansion
Only the ghost of the Shuyin (Bibliotheca) Mansion's illustrious past remains. Once the home of Shen Chu, deputy curator of the
Imperial Collection of the Four Banches of Literature (Sikuquanshu), the most extensive academic series in Chinese history, Shanghai's only official Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) mansion is a tangle of weeds, cracked walls, peeling paint, and a littered roof, surrounded by 12-meter-high outer walls - four meters higher than the original Old City wall.
The beautifully landscaped artificial hill and lotus ponds are long gone, while a former guest room is barely sheltered by a bare thatch roof. The 70 rooms, with total floor space of 1,515 square meters, can best be described as dilapidated, which Gu considers a disgrace: "The building is a testament to the old town's architectural and cultural value and its current state is a shame," he says.
But 88-year-old Guo Junlun, who owns the house along with nine of his cousins who all are living either abroad or in other parts of the country now, has no interest in any conservation plans because he does not know how to deal with the property right of the house. Under existing regulations, Guo is not allow to sell or exchange the property via the real estate market because the house is a historic relic on the municipal protection list.
Nine-room House
The home of the "father of Western astronomy in China" is falling apart. The former residence of Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) on Qiaojia Road looks no different from the rest of the two-story timber-and-brick buildings along this street; its exterior rotting, its interior crammed with pots, brooms and old bottles. Only a stone tablet in front of the houses reveals its historic significance as the home of the man who introduced Western astronomy to China.
The Nine-room House (Jiu Jian Lou), composed of seven connected buildings, was once part of Xu's villa. Here, the Catholic astronomer hosted foreign scientists and priests and "touched the rails and trod on the stairs," says Gu, with a touch of nostalgia. "But now even the tenants don't want to live here because it lacks modern facilities."
Wang Jingting, an 85-year-old resident who has lived here for more than 40 years, says her biggest wish is that the house will be torn down so that she can move. Neither is Wang allowed to sell or exchange the house because it's a municipal cultural relic.
Zi Garden
The villa's garden was leveled long ago to make room for a scrap steel plant, but the grandiose lines of the multiangular Zi Garden (Zi Yuan) still speak of its past. The former residence of renowned painter Wang Yiting (1867-1938), later a revolutionary and philanthropist, was a witness to history.
On October 13, 1922, Wang hosted Albert Einstein and his wife in this house. Today, however, the villa is a communal family dwelling, with air-conditioning units hanging from the once pristine grey-and-red brick walls. The tiles on which the artist painted calligraphy are now used as chopping blocks.
In the Old City area, there are also the Shichun Hall, a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) building that is now part of a primary school; Shangchuan Guild Hall, a symbol of old Shanghai's prosperous shipping trade; and the Fire Alarm Belfry, built in 1910, among others.
"These old buildings symbolize Shanghai's prosperous past," says Gu.
Ruan Yisan couldn't agree more. "These buildings have high historic value," says the Tong Ji University professor, who specializes in historic urban preservation. Ruan blames the lack of regulations regarding conservation, which leads to the deterioration of many historic houses.
There is a national law regarding cultural relics conservation, but no detailed provisions on the preservation of old buildings, he points out. A new law is in the works to better protect historic buildings, but Ruan thinks it's insufficient.
The government, he feels, needs to educate the public about the importance of conservation.
He notes that in many countries, the government will fund the conservation of old buildings, or buy properties from residents if they fail to maintain historic structures. "Fines will be assessed against those who destroy historic buildings, but here the law isn't that strict," Ruan continues.
"The most important thing is to conserve these old buildings," says Ruan, dismissing the idea that buildings should be moved together to create a historic zone.
( eastday.com March 2, 2002)
