Ancient cultural street protection in water town in east China

HANGZHOU, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Tong Xiujuan, a resident at the Cangqiao Straight Street in Shaoxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, took her small table outside, sat by the street and started to enjoy her dinner.

"This is what the water town in 'Jiangnan,' the scenic region south of the Yangtze River, looks like as what I've imagined," said a tourist surnamed Tong from north China's Shanxi Province.

The 1.5-km-long Cangqiao Straight Street could be traced back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Officially named Cangqiao Historical Street by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this site was granted the Merit Award of UNESCO 2003 Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

However, in the late 20th century, the houses on the street were old and dilapidated, with much illegal construction. The situation started to change as a protection and repair work began in 2001.

Instead of pulling down the old houses and asking the old residents to leave, Shaoxing decided to keep the old residents, while protecting the old street architecture as well as improving the quality of people's livelihood.

Two years later, the renovation project was completed, over 800 households stayed and 43 ancient Taimen buildings were preserved.

"I've been living here since I was three years old. The house was old without running water. Now it's convenient, every family has a flush toilet," said 51-year-old Ruan Lili.

"The Taimen building is a large house where residents can not only live in it, but also open shops at the door, selling snacks and accessories, to increase their income," said Huang Xiafeng, deputy head of Shaoxing's historical and cultural city protection office.

Currently, there are more than 100 merchants on the street, each with its own characteristics. Time-honored brands and young entrepreneurs are given priority and support, so traditional cultural resources can be introduced. A variety of catering, specialities, yellow rice wine products, paintings, calligraphy works, clothing, accessories, homestays and other forms of business, as well as cultural facilities have been formed.

Over the past two decades, Shaoxing has continued to promote the protection of ancient cities, formulating relevant laws and regulations and setting up a special protection agency. It has also set up an ancient city protection fund, exploring a way of sustainable protection and development, raising a total of about 5 billion yuan (about 690.3 million U.S. dollars), and having renovated eight historical and cultural blocks.