The Beijing municipal government has earmarked 600 million yuan (US$72.5 million) to be spent over a five-year period on protection of cultural relics to help the city stage its promised “cultural 2008 Olympic Games.” Added to the 330 million (US$40 million) spent previously on relics protection during the Olympic bid process, the city government is investing a total of nearly 1 billion yuan (US$121 million) in these projects. Its spending has attracted nearly 4 billion yuan (US$484 million) in accessory investment from its districts and counties, as well as from the private sector.

However, some experts are concerned about whether this large sum of money will be properly used on the scientific renovation, restoration, protection and reconstruction of cultural relics. If the city rushes ahead quickly in its attempts to make up for past neglect of some historical sites, the potential for error will increase.

Through the years until the 1980s, many of Beijing's city walls and gate towers were destroyed. In the 1990s, urban construction led to the demolition of some guild buildings, hutongs (residential lanes) and former residences of famous public figures. It wasn't until after 2000, when Beijing began preparing in earnest to receive guests from all over the world for the Olympics, that the city suddenly realized that much of the evidence of its 850 years of glorious history had disappeared.

Thus, a major renovation movement began in Beijing.

From May 2000 to May 2003, Beijing carried out its 330-billion-yuan Cultural Relics Salvage Project. “The money has helped save cultural relics in Beijing from disaster,” says Hou Zhaonian, director of the Beijing Research Institute of Ancient Architecture.

The Cultural Relics Protection Plan for a Cultural Olympic Games is in place for 2004. According to the plan, in the five years following 2003, 600 million yuan will be invested in protection of cultural relics.

The project slogan is, “Renovating scenic spots along two lines, restoring five areas and six sites.” The “two lines” refers to the central north-south axis that bisects the Forbidden City and the east-west line between Chaoyangmen and Fuchengmen, often referred to as Chaofu Road. The two lines are actually meant to create an image of a large rectangular area in the city center. The “five areas” are the Shichahai lakes area, the old Imperial College, the Azure Stone Workshop commercial district, the Forbidden City and the ancient Bell and Drum Tower Street. The “six sites” are scenic areas on the outskirts: the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, the Tongzhou Ancient Canal, the Wanping historical site and the west Beijing temple area.

“The difference now is that cultural relics protection in Beijing has shifted from salvage to scientific renovation, restoration, protection and reconstruction; from salvaging individual items to protection of the big picture,” says Wang Yuwei of the Cultural Relics Protection Department, Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau.

At long last, preserving the past

Between the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the implementation of the opening and reform policy in the 1980s, Beijing paid scant attention to its cultural relics. In fact, during those years many of them were demolished. From the 1980s to 2000, the annual sum spent on cultural relics was no more than 9 million yuan (US$1.1 million), woefully inadequate to protect the 3,550 cultural relics and 2 million square meters of ancient architecture in the capital city. “It could only prevent the buildings from collapsing and leaking,” says Hou Zhaonian.

Nevertheless, he adds, “By 2000, some buildings were on the verge of collapse after being in poor repair and used irrationally for so long. It was the 330 million yuan that helped pull them back from the brink.”

The 330 million yuan also marked Beijing's first real move into a comprehensive historical and cultural relics protection plan. The spending by the municipal government drew another 3 billion yuan from district and county governments as well as work units that were using the sites. “By 2003, the relics at the municipal level had all undergone repair,” says Hou.

The Imperial Palace of Emperors of Successive Dynasties, sometimes known as the Winter Palace, was built 400 years ago. It was long occupied by the Beijing No. 159 Middle School, but in 2000, as a major part of the 330-million-yuan project, the school moved to a different location and the palace has now been restored to its previous splendor.

Yuewei Cottage, the former residence of the Qing Dynasty scholar Ji Yun (1724 - 1805); the Red Mansion, near the Beijing Art Museum and once the home of Peking University; and White Pagoda Temple, the Temple of the Fire God, Houmen Bridge and the Bell and Drum Towers -- all in the area just north of the Forbidden City and all with hundreds of years of history behind them -- have now been renovated.

Poet Lin Yutang once said, “A women without character can still be lovely, but not a city.”

Beijing in the 21st century is still far from living up to the description ascribed to it by architectural historian Liang Sicheng: “A place inheriting traditional vigor, a most special and precious art masterpiece.” One of Liang's students, now a senior professor at Tsinghua University, says, “No matter how well a single cultural relic is repaired, it will never duplicate the original.”

The Cultural Relics Protection Plan for the 2008 Olympic Games seeks to redress the neglect of the past.

Start of a new era

On March 10, 2004, the long-deliberated reconstruction of the Yongdingmen city gate tower formally began. Located on the south end of the city's central axis, Yongdingmen was the biggest and most important of the seven gates to the Outer City during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). Its reconstruction will restore the southern starting point of the central north-south axis, a feature of the ancient capital that was imitated in many other cities in Asia. One of the major restorations in Beijing this year, the project is expected to cost 19 million yuan (US$2.3 million).

The Beijing municipal government will also fully renovate six UN-listed World Cultural Heritage sites including Zhoukoudian, the Peking Man site; the Great Wall; the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Ming Tombs.

The renovation of Zhengjue Temple in the ruins of the Old Summer Palace will restore the splendor of the old royal temple. The project will also make it the only building fully restored in accordance with its original appearance at the Old Summer Palace.

Work will be done on the Kang and Qing mausoleums to repair existing damage and protect them against future harm. The renovation of Changchun Temple will transform it into the Xuannan Culture Museum.

“2004 is a significant year for Beijing's renovation of cultural relics,” says Hou Zhaonian. “Because it not only involves six World Cultural Heritage sites, but more importantly, it also includes some trial projects such as the rebuilding of Yongdingmen and Wuying Palace in the Forbidden City. The experiences accumulated this year will directly influence the development of the Cultural Relics Protection Plan for the 2008 Olympic Games.”

Still, some specialists are concerned that in an effort to make up for time lost in decades past, the city will move too quickly forward now.

“Money is not what we lack. What we lack now is evaluation of our cultural relics, experts and technologies,” concludes Han Yangru, head of the Research Institute of Ancient Architecture. Han had just come from attending the funeral of an old artisan who had been working at the Forbidden City.

(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, March 26, 2004)