China's Tu Youyou (R) who won 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine gives a lecture in Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, capital of Sweden, Dec. 7, 2015. (CNS/Shen Chen)

Tu Youyou's former home in east China's Ningbo city.

Nobel Prize laureate Tu Youyou's former home is in the list of 421 historic buildings of Ningbo city, announced by the local government at a Historic Preservation Conference Tuesday.

The house, located in the Kaiming Street of Haishu District in Ningbo, was built by her maternal grandfather, Yao Yongbai, who was once a member of the Ningbo General Chamber of Commerce and a professor at Shanghai's Fudan University. It is owned by her uncle Yao Qingsan, an economist and former president of the Ningbo-Hong Kong Fellowship Association. Tu had lived there until she went to university in Beijing.

Since 84-year-old Tu won the international prize on Oct. 5, her former home in Ningbo has attracted many visitors, especially parents and their children- even though it is not open to the public. Admiration of outstanding scholars has turned the well-preserved childhood home of Tu into a popular tourist destination.

According to Lu Ziyue, mayor of Ningbo, the protection of the historic buildings in a city will help build soft-power of a city, and increase its attractiveness, influence and competitiveness.