Preserving the Soul of Beijing

By staff reporter YUAN YUAN

“WHILE many Westerners would not dream of living in other than Western-style housing, I like to try something different. I was lucky enough to find a courtyard situated in a park. Every day, I awake to the chirping of birds outside my window, and my bedroom is close to the river which gives me a great sense of relaxation.” Laurence Barron, president of Airbus China, so describes his Beijing residence. Western-style suited, non-Chinese speaking and living as a foreign resident, Mr. Barron nevertheless feels a strong affinity with China.

A siheyuan is a traditional Beijing residence. Translated, it means a four-walled enclosed courtyard formed by inward-facing houses on all four sides. Siheyuan date back more than 800 years to when Beijing began its construction as a capital city, and typify the capital’s architectural style.

Systematic demolition of old urban buildings took place during China’s rapid economic development of the 1990s. Large-scale disappearance of siheyuan began when the municipal government implemented a housing renovation policy that allowed developers to replace old and derelict dwellings with high-rise buildings.

Between 1990 and 1998, a total 4.2 million square meters of old housing was demolished, most of it siheyuan. Today, the area occupied by siheyuan has shrunk from the 17 million square meters of the early 1950s to just three million square meters. According to Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage statistics, of the 3,000 courtyards remaining in Beijing, only 539 are in Cultural and Historical Conservation Areas. The extent of destruction of siheyuan is startling. Those remaining exist within a damaged ecological environment, and as they have not been refurbished for many years, their historical and aesthetic value is greatly reduced.

Siheyuan represent Beijing residents’ childhood happiness, an old image branded on their collective memory. From a foreign visitors’ point of view, the siheyuan scenario, with fruit sellers along the hutong, or narrow lanes, lined with small shops selling various daily life utensils, has a bewitching charm redolent of the rich flavor of Beijing life. Such areas offer the best chance to interact with the local people and observe their daily life. Siheyuan, in effect, shorten the distance between peoples.

French Canadian Jean is a well known animator. When he first came to China in 1977, he was captivated by the spatial harmony of siheyuan as created by Beijing’s old masters of architecture. Nowadays, the principle upon which they worked of a dwelling being part of an holistic melody with its own rhythm and structure has been lost in contemporary architecture. He believes that this unparalleled living culture should be one that can be enjoyed throughout the world.

Fearful of hutong and siheyuan becoming no more than a poignant memory, their devotees actively appealed for conservation. A letter jointly signed by 19 experts, including CPPCC Standing Committee member Liang Congjie and Professor Chen Zhihua of the Tsinghua University architecture department, was faxed from Beijing to the UNESCO 28th World Heritage Conference in Suzhou, calling for the protection of Beijing’s old city districts. In it, these experts stressed to the Conference the urgency of protecting extant courtyards. They represent priceless heritage that should be passed on to succeeding generations and protected from irrevocable destruction by bulldozers and wrecking balls.

In his article “Salvage and Protection of Beijing’s Hutongs and Siheyuans” of March 9, 1998 writer Shu Yi stated, “Large-scale destruction of hutong and siheyuan will lose Beijing its unique status as world cultural capital.” During a conference held in April the same year, Shu said, “In destroying its siheyuan Beijing is actually tearing down its second city wall.”

In 2001, upon the government’s stipulating relevant regulations, the majority of siheyuan tenants left, returning them to original owners who had moved into new housing. Many of the dwellings were severely damaged and in dire need of repair and renovation, and their owners were keen to sell them rather than spend time and money on refurbishment.

In order to encourage greater participation in the conservation and repair of Beijing’s old districts and Cultural and Historical Conservation Areas, on April 12, 2004 the municipality launched its “Circular Encouraging Groups and Individuals to Buy siheyuan in Beijing’s Old Districts and Cultural and Historical Conservation Areas.” This circular called not only on Chinese but also foreign buyers. Under this scheme, buyers actually own the real estate and have the legal right to sell, lease, mortgage, present and transfer. A sale price is arrived at on the basis of negotiations between the buyer and the seller. The government has no say in the transaction, and prices are agreed upon according to the going market rate.

Jean was delighted at this development, having so long awaited the chance to purchase his own siheyuan. To him it is a dream come true. “China is one of the oldest civilizations on earth, and I want to participate in the protection of its cultural heritage by owning a siheyuan. Although I can only buy a small patch, it is nevertheless a part of Chinese history. When I walked through Beijing’s hutong five years ago, I was strongly drawn to the siheyuan that lined them, and was heartsick at being unable to own one. I am now indescribably happy,” was his comment.

The new policy has helped make many other people’s dreams come true, some of them non-Beijingers, some returned from overseas, and some foreigners. The majority of buyers are from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Decisive factors as regards pricing siheyuan include location, fengshui, and transportation convenience. They are generally priced at 7,000 to 10,000 yuan per square meter. Those located in Dongcheng and Xicheng districts are expensive, but those near houhai and shichahai are unabashedly exorbitant. One 2,000-square-meter siheyuan in shichahai sold for an incredible 40 million yuan.

There are approximately 7,000 to 9,000 siheyuan for sale. According to a real estate agency that began dealing in siheyuan transactions one year ago, some people bought the siheyuan out of personal interest, but most buyers are non-Beijingers with a solid investment in mind. Siheyuan having high cultural value, the profit ratio is anything from 100 to 200 percent, sometimes higher.

When deciding whether or not to buy these costly items, many buyers worried about what the future might bring.

“There is no long-term urban planning in Beijing, so who knows if and when old siheyuan will be replaced by high-rise buildings. This worries our customers,” says Jing Yunjiao, general manager of Wandecheng Real Estate Service Co., Ltd. Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning is not prepared to commit itself as to the term of these conservation areas. This perplexes both buyers and real estate agents.