New guidelines put in place to regulate height of skyscrapers, protect historical architecture

The country will bring construction of skyscrapers under strict restriction while bolstering the protection of historical and traditional buildings in an effort to make urban architectures more representative of the country's culture and consolidate Chinese people's cultural confidence, according to a guideline published on Wednesday. 

No buildings taller than 500 meters will be allowed to be built unless their plans are approved by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission following strict "examinations", the document jointly issued by the two governmental bodies said. 

Provincial-level housing and urban-rural development departments are authorized to give the green light to construction of buildings over 250 meters in height, though plans of such buildings need to be registered in the ministry, it said. 

A series of factors, including city scale and local fire control capabilities, will be brought into consideration in authorities' examination of new buildings taller than 100 meters. Construction also cannot be started unless they go through strict anti-seismic examination and approval, it added. 

The smaller the cities are, the stricter the restrictions for the height of new buildings will be, according to the guideline.

Per the guideline, construction of new high-rise buildings with a height of over 100 meters will be strictly restricted in medium- and small-sized cities. The majority of residential buildings in county cities should be less than 27 meters in height. 

Management will also be intensified for construction of big public facilities, including stadia, museums, exhibition halls and theaters, to prevent imitation in architecture designs. 

Meanwhile, restrictions will be imposed on new buildings that will exert negative impact on features and styles of key urban areas for protection. No more historical architecture and traditional dwellings will be demolished, it said. 

The guideline aims to address the chaos caused by some cities seeking to make architecture unnecessarily ostentatious, and some urban locales worshiping foreign architecture styles. 

It is also expected to "consolidate the country's cultural confidence", "help urban culture succession" and "manifest China's characteristics", the ministry said in a media release.