Old "Imperial Palace" buildings of "Manchuguo", a puppet regime formed in China's northeastern provinces by Japanese rulers from the 1930s to mid 1940s, are under repair in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province.
These historical structures are a mixture of Chinese, Japanese and Russian architectural styles, with some of them designed by prestigious architects of the time, said Liu Hongyu, a section chief in charge of cultural relics libraries with the city's cultural bureau.
It was hard to protect weather-beaten constructions in urban expansion, but the city government has succeeded in integrating both the old and new with great efforts and meticulous care, said Hu Yonglin, a senior engineer from the city's institute of urban and rural planning.
The city has invested some 645 million yuan (nearly US$7.8 million) in recent years to maintain and overhaul a number of major structures in the "imperial palace".
(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2003)
