Yuhang: Revival of an Ancient Town

By special correspondent SONG BING

Reaching 355 kmph, the train can do the Shanghai-Hangzhou run in about 40 minutes. CFP

HIGH-SPEED? What’s that, a boat?” asks a puzzled Wu Gendi, a shopkeeper in Tangqi Town of Yuhang District, Hangzhou. Actually, local shopkeepers are not particularly interested in the imminent opening of Yuhang High-speed Railway Station, a dozen or so kilometers from their town. What does worry her is the possibility of the free shuttle-bus service between Hangzhou and Tangqi being cancelled, and a consequent drop in the number of visitors.

    Wu would like to think of the high-speed railway as a boat fully laden with tourists disembarking outside her riverbank store. And she may not be that far wrong.

    Actually Yuhang Station has advant-ages over other stations on the high-speed railway that are dozens of kilometers from the urban areas. Since it connects with the subway, Yuhang Station provides a convenient interchange to nearby areas and will play an obvious role in accelerating links between districts. The new station seems set to bring urban change in its wake.

    Although Tangqi has a history of some 1,000 years, this ancient town is still unknown to many tourists. In Wu’s opinion, inconvenient access is a major reason.

    Visitors coming from Shanghai, for example, often come via Hangzhou, from where they make their way north for 20 kilometers to Linping and change buses for the final 10-kilometer leg of the journey to Tangqi. This complicated journey will take nearly three hours, and strangers to the area often have difficulty locating the bus stops.

    Many years ago people from Hangzhou needed to get up early and travel by boat to Tangqi. When they saw the passenger boats on their way, the riverbank merchants got ready to do business. Perhaps that’s why Wu Gendi’s mind made the leap that the new link might be a kind of boat.

    With the opening of the high-speed railway and subway, tourists from Shanghai can take a high-speed train to Linping Station and transfer to the bus to Tangqi, the whole journey taking about an hour. For local visitors from Hangzhou, new road links have made Tangqi more accessible. Moreover, a second orbital expressway for Hangzhou is planned, which will bring Tangqi into the city’s urban area.

    Thanks to the expansion of the transportation network, the ancient town of Tangqi is experiencing a revival. The local government plans investment of RMB 30 billion over eight years to revitalize the town. Around the core, or original old town, a brand new town is rising, with row after row of buildings in the classic style flanking its ancient canals. This little town that grew up on trade became something of a backwater during the first wave of urbanization, but with the new transportation links a new urbanization process is underway, one that will include rather than isolate it.

    Linping, a town close to Yuhang High-speed Railway Station, is also preparing to build a new city, but quite unlike that of Tangqi.