Beijing is moving to safeguard its historic sites with a 400
million yuan (US$48.2 million) renovation program, it was announced
on Friday.
Some of the capital's most famous attractions, including the
Forbidden City and the Great Wall, are among 30 heritage sites that
will benefit from repair work this year, said Mei Ninghua, director
of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
Mei said that of the 400 million yuan funding his bureau had
secured for the work, 120 million yuan (US$14.5 million) is to come
from the municipal government with the remaining nearly 300 million
yuan (US$36.1 million) coming from district-level governments.
The central government is also to plunge more than 100 million
yuan (US$12.1 million) into renovations to the Forbidden City, Mei
told reporters at a press conference held on Friday.
The total expenditure on renovations in the coming year will
come close to matching the total spent between 1990 and 2000.
Kong Fanshi, deputy-director of the cultural heritage bureau,
told the conference that several important structures in the
Forbidden City, including the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Gate of
Divine Prowess and the Cining Palace, will be repaired this
year.
The massive renovation project, the most extensive and complete
repair of the compound since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was
toppled, began in 2002 and is expected to continue until 2020.
The repair work on the 6,700-kilometre-long Great Wall that
stretches long the northern part of China is another overwhelming
task. The Beijing heritage bureau has adopted a sector-by-sector
solution to the problem, and this year, repair work will be carried
out on sectors in the Huairou and Miyun districts, said Kong.
The city's four other world heritage sites - the Temple of
Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Peking Man ruins at Zhoukoudian and
the Ming Tombs - as well as dozens of State-protected heritage
sites will all receive attention this year, said Kong.
According to Mei, the total renovation area this year is
expected to top 260,000 square meters.
"Our aim is to recreate the glory and beauty of these heritage
sites as they were at their peak during the imperial era," he
said.
Apart from the preservation of famous heritage sites, the city
will also act to protect the old city as a whole, including the
traditional alleys and courtyards, Mei added.
He said the newly-passed Beijing Regulations for Historical and
Cultural City Protection has very specific stipulations on the
protection of the old city, a 62.5-square-kilometre area within the
city's Second Ring Road.
According to the law, passed by the municipal legislature on
March 25 and set to take effect on May 1, the old city's river
system, streets and lanes, old structures and signs, building
colors, old trees, and even the names of old houses and lanes are
not allowed to be demolished or changed.
"We have also listed 40 areas as Historical and cultural
protection regions in order to preserve their original flavor. No
construction should be done in these areas unless it gets the OK
from the cultural relics administrations," said Mei.
Wang Yuwei, an official with the heritage bureau in charge of
relics protection, said that since 2000 Beijing had entered an
unprecedented era of heritage protection and renovation.
More than 200 famous heritage sites around the city, including
ancient temples, imperial gardens, residences of the nobility and
imperial tombs have been or are to be repaired between 2000 and
2008, said Wang.
(China Daily April 2, 2005)
