China News Service, Jinzhong, July 12th: "Butterfly Change" of a Millennium Ancient City in Shanxi: Organic Renewal of Inheritance and Context
Chinanews reporter Yang Jieying
"Wanli Tea Ceremony - Capital of Tea Merchants" - the ancient city of Qixian County in Shanxi is undergoing a "butterfly change".
The reporter recently visited this ancient city with a history of more than 1,500 years to see how it promotes organic renewal in the inheritance of historical context.
As China's first foreign government loan project for cultural heritage, the Qixian Ancient City Protection and Urban Renewal Development Demonstration Project has opened a new milestone in the use of foreign capital for cultural heritage protection nationwide. Use other aspects to explore a new way.
Construction site of Qixian Ancient City Protection and Urban Renewal Development Demonstration Project.
Photo by Zhang Yun
Qixian County is one of the birthplaces of Shanxi merchants and an important node of the Wanli Tea Ceremony. It is a national historical and cultural city with a famous Chinese historical and cultural street.
The ancient city of Qixian County, also known as the ancient city of Zhaoyu, can be traced back to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and more than 1,000 ancient dwellings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties are completely preserved in the city.
Jinshang Old Street is lined with Qu's Courtyard, Wanli Tea Ceremony Museum, Qu Benqiao's former residence and other attractions.
"Because of the age, many houses are aging, and some are facing collapse. In addition to the low investment in cultural relics protection and weak technical force, the ancient city has outdated infrastructure, and problems such as fire protection and heating are very prominent. Systematic repair and planning are urgently needed. "Yan Dianzheng, director of the Qixian Ancient City Protection and Urban Renewal Development Demonstration Project, introduced that the overall and systematic protection and development of the ancient city is imminent, but Qixian has limited financial revenue and has always been powerless.
Project construction site.
Photo by Zhang Yun
In 2017, the Qixian Ancient City Protection and Urban Renewal Development Demonstration Project officially passed the final review of the Board of Directors of the French Development Agency (AFD).
The total investment of the project is 678 million yuan, and a total of 70 million euros (about 540 million yuan) have been applied for a loan from the French Development Agency.
This is the first cultural heritage protection project in China supported by the French Development Agency.
The main construction contents of the project include reconstruction of infrastructure and road system in Zhaoyu Ancient City, cultural heritage protection and restoration and urban public space reconstruction, capacity building and technical assistance.
"Because some streets are narrow, it is difficult for large-scale machinery and equipment to function, and it is very difficult to ensure that the construction does not affect the lives of residents as much as possible." Yan Dianzheng said, for example, the "Line of Sky" in Majia Lane in the ancient city is only 70 cm wide and can only be Renovation can only be carried out by manual excavation.
Qixian County is one of the birthplaces of Shanxi merchants and an important node of the Wanli Tea Ceremony. It is a national historical and cultural city with a famous Chinese historical and cultural street.
Photo by Zhang Yun
At the construction site of the project, infrastructure renovation is progressing in an orderly manner.
Yuan Shenggang, the civil engineering chief of Shanxi First Construction Group, told reporters that the current implementation is the encapsulation of the power pipe and the telecommunication pipe network, and the pipe network will be completed by the end of July.
"How many years have I lived in the ancient city, the road is not easy to walk, and although the construction is inconvenient now, the ancient city will develop better in the future, and our life will be better and better." Zhang Yulan, a resident of the ancient city, said.
Fan Guangjian, 67, transformed a courtyard house on West Street into a homestay.
"The ancient city is 850 meters long from east to west, and 700 meters long from north to south. It consists of 4 streets, 8 small streets, 28 alleys, and 72 road (hutong) from east to west. There are more than 230 courtyards like this, basically all The architectural style preserved from the Shanxi and Shang dynasties is 'the culmination of Jiangnan and Hebei, and the French style of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties'." He is very familiar with the history of the ancient city, and he is extremely looking forward to the upgrading and transformation of the ancient city.
Project construction site.
Photo by Zhang Yun
In the process of protecting, repairing, transforming and upgrading the ancient city, Qixian pays great attention to the protection and inheritance of history and culture.
Yan Dianzheng said that in the renovation of the entire project, adhering to the green concept, efforts are made to create an ancient city with cultural and natural heritage, residents and tourists developing harmoniously.
With the continuous advancement of the project, the ancient city of Zhaoyu, which carries a history of more than 1,500 years, will keep the memory of the ancient city, inherit the thousand-year-old cultural context, and organically update it.
According to the data, the French Development Agency, established in 1941, is a financial institution that implements French development assistance on behalf of the French government and a public institution that implements the policy of international solidarity.
In December 2003, the French Development Agency was authorized by the French government to cooperate in China.
(Finish)