OPINION> EDITORIALS
Leave old towns alone
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-12 07:51

Cicheng in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, is a quiet old town with a rich culture and many historical sites. Yet the massive construction now going on in the area has many worried about its fate. Cicheng may soon join the long list of old towns that have lost their identity due to excessive development.

This is true of many canal towns in the Yangtze Delta region as well as old towns in other parts of the country. Often as a norm, local residents are asked to move out of the area because a certain property developer has been contracted by government to develop and operate the place. Many poorly maintained old and historical houses are torn down. And fancy replications are built on the original sites.

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These replica houses are often occupied by hotels, teahouses, restaurants, Internet cafs and shops selling tourism souvenirs and local specialties aimed at deriving maximum revenue from the influx of tourists. As a result, the very reasons that lure people to visit the places - tranquility, cultural and historical flavor and the unique local life - no longer exist any more.

The developer of Fenghuang in western part of Hunan province has clearly proved to be a master in turning the once fascinating historical town into a cash cow, with its yearly 5.8 million visitors and 1.9 billion yuan revenue. Yet Fenghuang, known to many thanks to writer Shen Congwen's novels, is fast losing its original flavor following unbounded commercial development.

Leave old towns alone

However, that does not prevent the Fenghuang development company from winning the Cicheng government's contract to turn the Zhejiang old town into another economic success story.

The target is that within three years, Cicheng should draw 600,000 tourists each year. That number should reach 800,000 in five years and 1.2 million in eight years. As in other old towns, the closer Cicheng advances to its revenue target, the more it is likely to lose its original cultural and historic flavor.

The old town development model that has been adopted in many parts of the country in the past two decades has often obliterated local culture and history while reaping short-term profits. The busloads of tourists coming to these places every day actually see a commercial model devised by property developers rather than the unique local culture, history and people.

Professor Ruan Yisan, a well-known conservationist behind many old towns in the nation, has called for an end to continuing with this model of urban development.

We have allowed many local governments and property developers to erase much of the local culture and history and build numerous new "cultural relics", all in the name of protecting our old towns.

This has been a hard lesson. We should not let this tragedy happen again in the remaining old towns that have not been ruined by greedy local governments and corporations.

(China Daily 10/12/2009 page4)