Saving a Piece of History

By staff reporter GONG HAN

AT the ongoing Shanghai World Expo Suzhou is making its presence felt. In the Urban Best Practices Area its outstanding work in protection and renovation of its old city is being lauded. Its achievements are best seen in neighborhoods along Pingjiang Road, which are believed to be older than the city itself. In 2005 this area won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award. When granting the honor, the jury made the comments: “The revitalization of Pingjiang Historic Block is a commendable example of integrated urban rehabilitation which has restored the physical, social and commercial fabric of one of China’s most well-known historic waterway towns….The project has demonstrated the feasibility of upgrading traditional housing stock to keep it in continuous use by the original residents, which maintains the authentic historic spirit of the place….”

Unaltered for 800 Years

The 1,606-meter-long Pingjiang Road extends along the Pingjiang River, which feeds a labyrinth of watercourses across the block. A 1229 map drawn by Southern Song magistrate Li Shoupeng shows that the area’s layout has remained largely intact over the past centuries, and much ancient architecture, such as bridges, wells, archways and the residences of historic figures, has survived the ravages of time. Among them is the UNESCO world heritage site Ouyuan Garden, token of timeless love and sanctuary memorial to devoted couples.

The Pingjiang block was put under strict protection back in 1986. The municipal government of Suzhou invited scholars from prestigious universities at home and abroad, as well as other relevant organizations, to study and plan for Pingjiang, bidding its time to restore the area to the best possible condition.

The restoration project kicked off in 2002 before the opening of the 27th UNESCO World Heritage Convention in the city. Ruan Yisan, a professor of architecture with Tongji University, masterminded the plan, and the Pingjiang Historical Block Preservation Co., Ltd. was established to carry out the work. The project proceeded with great prudence, for it was meant to give the area a facelift and upgrade its public facilities while sustaining its traditional look and feel. The goal was not to make the block into what it once was, but even better than that, for the sake of its current residents who have more complex needs and expectations in life than the original inhabitants.

Honest to History

After the People’s Republic was founded in 1949, like in other parts of the nation, private homes in Pingjiang were all gradually converted to state ownership, and redistributed. Finally free of wars and famines, the population began an explosive growth, and soon there was a dearth of housing. So houses formerly occupied by single families were partitioned to accommodate more tenants, sabotaging their original designs and obscuring the aesthetic values of the time. This state of affairs persisted till recent years. Meanwhile, the wooden structures of these old buildings aged rapidly in the moist climate of southern China and many homes came to the verge of collapse.

In 2002 Suzhou started restoration with houses lining Pingjiang Road, a trail of 30,000 square meters. The work was done house by house, preserving the features of each building that were distinct for its time and distinguished it from its neighbors. The city was cautious to shun the lazy cookie-cutter approach used by some areas to conduct mass refurbishment of historic districts, and no effort or money was spared for custom work.

For instance, for the carved wood gates and window frames that had been damaged beyond repair, the architects first looked for substitutes of similar styles from the same age. Replicas would only be considered if the hunt was fruitless. Records were kept of each characteristic. The peeling patchy wall by the Pingjiang Youth Hotel looks as if left untended as before, but in fact was coated with a transparent chemical to stop wind erosion without ruining the irreplaceable patina of age. Zhuyuan, a century-old complex, was near the point of crumpling at the time the renovation drive commenced, but architects shored up its elaborately structured roofs with iron and steel, and replaced rotten pillars with new ones, keeping changes to a minimum.

Soul of the Neighborhood

The soul of a historic neighborhood is its old residents, those who have lived there for generations, keeping its culture and customs alive. More than 50,000 people in 20,000 households use the many narrow lanes feeding Pingjiang Road, and here few traces of the amenities and facilities that define modern urban life could be found. Electric lines snarled overhead, the sewage system malfunctioned, and most homes had no kitchen or toilet, making the potty, bath bucket and coal stove indispensable to daily life.

Sick of being cut off from a world overflowing with conveniences and comforts, the younger generations of Pingjiang’s residents effected an exodus, leaving the empty rooms to migrants.

Prof. Ruan told the media, “We should try our best to retain the original families. The preservation of the block should go deep into the lane, instead of just brushing across the façade.”

After architectural renovation was completed in 2007 Suzhou moved on to upgrade water, gas, electricity and cable TV facilities in the block. They extended the sewage system to every one of the 80 lanes in the region, paved the roads with flagstones, dredged rivers and ditches, and installed tables, stools and pools in public spaces. Seeing the change in their ancestral community, many residents who had moved out made their way back.

Interest of the Many and the Few

Any reconstruction of an old district involves the difficult issue of relocating some of its people. Though Suzhou had done all it could to keep the relocation percentage low, 27 businesses and 448 households were moved out of Pingjiang Road in the first stage of the renovation, provoking a flurry of petitions with the provincial and central governments.

This issue was raised by many scholars when in 2009 China’s urban heritage conservation group toured Europe. Discussions were held over “how to promote interaction with residents during the renovation of Pingjiang” and “how to interpret China’s enclosure-style preservation of cultural heritage.”

Liang Zhenhua, deputy magistrate of Pingjiang District, was glad of the international attention to the area, and agreed that the city has a long way to go in many respects, including law making, regulating the use of private capital and protecting citizens’ rights. The detours and bumps on Pingjiang’s road of heritage preservation illustrate the complexity and difficulty of saving historic sites, especially where high population density complicates matters. It all serves to prompt the world to do more sociological studies on the issues.