This year coincides with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the National Historic and Cultural City Protection System. According to the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection and Inheritance of Historic and Cultural Heritage in Urban and Rural Construction issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council last year, “by 2025, a multi-level and multi-element urban and rural historical and cultural protection and inheritance system will be preliminarily constructed” and “the pattern of integrating historical and cultural protection and inheritance into urban and rural construction will be basically formed”.
How to understand the multi-level and multi factor urban and rural historical and cultural protection and inheritance system? How to develop in protection and protect in development, so that the historical context can be inherited forever? The reporter conducted an interview.
——Editor
In the east of Beijing, the four lanes of Caochang are covered with green bricks and grey tiles, and the winding roads lead to secluded places; In Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, the small West Lake area has elegant courtyards and colorful flowers and plants, making it a comfortable space for citizens to clock in for leisure; Fuzhou, Fujian, has three lanes and seven alleys with white walls and black tiles, cornices and cornices, cork paintings, ox horn combs, oil paper umbrellas and other folk arts.
According to the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection and Inheritance of Historical and Cultural Heritage in Urban and Rural Construction (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), we should strengthen the protection and inheritance of historical and cultural heritage in urban and rural construction, “to achieve full coverage of space and elements, not only to protect single buildings, but also to protect streets, streets, urban patterns, as well as historical areas, natural landscapes, human environment and intangible cultural heritage”.
It shall ensure that the space is fully covered and all elements are included
After dinner, on the wall made of rouge bricks and the ground carving of goldfish patterns, adults walked and talked, and children played and played. The goldfish lane in Quanzhou, Fujian, was very lively after the micro transformation. “In the past, the alley was full of cables, just like a spider web, and the surrounding environment was also very messy. After transformation, it was much more comfortable!” The nearby residents sighed.
Xu Meng, a senior urban planner of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, said that although the Golden Fish Lane is only 270 meters long, it has concentrated more than 10 kinds of traditional techniques of ancient architecture in southern Fujian, such as oyster shell washing stone, ramming earth wall, and putting bricks into stone. It retains many architectural and environmental elements from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the 20th century, and even the green banyan wrapped around the broken wall has been protected.
“The protection and inheritance of historical and cultural heritage mentioned today is not only the protection of the material form of historical relics, but also the overall protection and inheritance of the combination of human environment, natural landscape environment, etc., physical heritage and intangible heritage. The core is to continue the value of Chinese history and culture and form a strong social cohesion through the integration of various historical and cultural resources.” Lv Zhou, director of the National Heritage Center of Tsinghua University, analyzed that urban and rural historical and cultural protection and inheritance system, from the spatial perspective, urban and rural areas cover all areas of human life; From the perspective of time, it emphasizes not only the expression of ancient civilization, but also the presentation of modern and contemporary historical culture; From the perspective of cultural elements and connotation, it covers the diversity characteristics of all ethnic and regional cultures.
It is worth noting that the Opinions put forward that “the protection of historical sites that can truly reflect the traditional style, ethnic and local characteristics of a certain historical period”, which is the first time that the central document explicitly proposed the concept of “historical sites” and improved the types of protected objects.
“Historic sites lie between historical and cultural blocks and historical buildings. In the past, some sites that failed to meet the criteria for defining historical and cultural blocks, but were a little larger than the scope of historical buildings, often drifted away from the protection system, which easily led to the gradual loss of characteristics.” Wang Kai, president of the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Design, introduced that some “characteristic areas” formed by adapting to nature and appropriate transformation, and “key areas” with rich and sustainable cultural heritage, all conform to the value connotation of historical areas, such as the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang and other famous buildings and their surrounding areas.
Since the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the national historic and cultural city protection system, the concept of historical and cultural protection in China has been constantly improved and the protection objects have been constantly expanded. By the end of last year, more than 1200 historical and cultural blocks had been designated nationwide, and about 57500 historical buildings had been identified; Compared with the end of 2016, the number of historical and cultural blocks has doubled, and the number of historical buildings has increased nearly five times. At present, there are 140 national historical and cultural cities, 312 Chinese historical and cultural towns, and 487 Chinese historical and cultural villages; In addition, there are 6819 traditional Chinese villages, forming the largest farming civilization heritage group in the world so far.
Activating and utilizing, integrating historical culture with modern life
To strengthen the protection and inheritance of history and culture, we should not only stick to the bottom line of protection, but also adhere to the promotion of protection through use; We should not only protect the historical and cultural heritage, but also improve the living environment.
In front of the “Tongli Swallow Shop” in the three lanes and seven alleys of Fuzhou, Fujian, the sound of wooden mallets rises and falls one after another. Chen Junfan, the fourth generation descendant of the old shop, repeatedly pounded the meat ball on the chopping board to show the traditional skills of making meat swallows, attracting many tourists. With the settlement of time-honored brands such as “Tongli Meat Swallow” and “Yonghe Fish Ball”, as well as new business forms such as China Commercial Printing Exhibition Hall and China-Chic Goldfish Museum, these centuries old historic houses have shown new vitality.
In the Renfengli Historical and Cultural Block in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, Liu Weiqing and his partners tried to transform the traditional folk houses into a studio that combines vegetarian food with non heritage cultural creation. “We also created a public welfare project, inviting the surrounding residents to experience the intangible cultural heritage skills such as weaving plates; we participated in the cooperation of the ‘parents’ canteen’ project, and provided catering services for 50 elderly orphans in the community from Monday to Friday.” In order to create a livable public environment, the local government also encourages the establishment of convenience stores, public canteens, 24-hour urban study and other small commercial and service facilities on both sides of streets and alleys to promote the protection and utilization of the blocks.
To integrate historical culture and modern life is an important way to promote the protection, inheritance and development of historical and cultural heritage. The person in charge of the relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development said that to promote the activation and utilization, we should give full play to the value of historical and cultural resources, so that they can be used and live. First, we should increase the openness of historical and cultural heritage with an open mind to better serve the public. The second is to activate and utilize historical buildings and industrial heritage, and on the basis of maintaining the original appearance and typical components, adapt to the needs of modern production and life by building, rebuilding and adding facilities. Third, we should give play to the role of agricultural cultural heritage and irrigation project heritage to promote the development of ecological agriculture and rural tourism. We will promote the rational use of intangible cultural heritage and integrate it into modern production and life.
However, the activation and utilization of historical and cultural heritage also face some difficulties. “China’s traditional buildings are mainly civil structures, which are difficult to preserve for a long time. Many of them are left with broken city walls, rammed earth platforms and other sites, which are not highly ornamental; a large number of historical and cultural blocks, historical and cultural towns and villages are still living, and other infrastructure is backward, and the pattern and texture are often difficult to meet the current engineering technical standards.” Introduction by Li Xiaolong, associate professor of the School of Architecture of Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology. In addition, the activation and utilization of historical and cultural heritage in some places are also faced with the impact of factors such as long-term financial dependence, insufficient investment, greater financial pressure, relatively weak management, and insufficient management level. It is necessary to actively explore the diversified innovation path of the activation and utilization of historical and cultural heritage.
Special evaluation will be organized to promote accountability, efficiency and problem rectification
Over the past 40 years, the concept of urban and rural historical and cultural heritage protection has been constantly improved in China, but it should also be noted that there are still some misunderstandings about the understanding and methods of historical and cultural heritage protection in some places. For example, some places do not have a good understanding of the value and non renewable nature of heritage, and lack sufficient patience and necessary sense of historical responsibility; In some places, the content of protection is not systematic, and the emphasis is on the building body, rather than the environmental pattern, and the emphasis is on ancient times, rather than modern times. Some historical sites with protection value have not been included in the protection system; Some places have a single way of protecting and utilizing cultural heritage, which is divorced from modern production and life.
Lv Zhou believed that although the past historical and cultural cities and cultural relics protection management system emphasized territorial management, there was still a problem of unclear responsibilities. In case of damage to historical and cultural heritage, relevant departments cannot respond in time. The introduction of the Opinions clearly outlined the basic framework of the historical and cultural protection and inheritance system, such as defining the key tasks of the protection and inheritance system at different levels, and establishing a three-level management system for the urban and rural historical and cultural protection and inheritance system.
“The construction of the protection and inheritance system is to complement the shortcomings of the original management system, build a” firewall “for historical and cultural heritage through the establishment of the city’s physical examination and supervision system, and through social supervision, public interest litigation and other methods, to form a social atmosphere that dare not damage, can not damage historical and cultural heritage, and ultimately form a cultural consciousness that does not want to damage.” Lu Zhou said.
At present, how is the construction of the urban and rural historical and cultural protection and inheritance system progressing? According to the person in charge of relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, the Outline of the National Urban and Rural Historical and Cultural Protection and Inheritance System has been prepared, and a national protection list and distribution map of protected objects have been established. In the next step, we will focus on the preparation of the provincial planning outline, and promote the formation of a “national chess game” in the protection and inheritance of urban and rural history and culture.
“We will organize special evaluation according to the requirements of full coverage, evaluate the protection and inheritance of famous cities and the protection of protected objects, timely find and solve the prominent problems such as the repeated destruction and demolition of historical and cultural heritage, comprehensively use the evaluation results, and promote accountability and rectification.” The person in charge said.
Coordinator of this period: Hu Anqi