Heritage endures when the past keeps moving forward

Making heritage part of everyday life

Beijing and Paris are different cities, shaped by different cultures and histories. But when it comes to protecting their heritage, the two cities have more in common than one might expect.

Take Beijing's Central Axis and the Banks of the Seine in Paris. Both are World Heritage sites, but neither is simply a collection of historical buildings or monuments. They are part of living cities, where history has continued to unfold.

The Central Axis reflects traditional Chinese ideas of order, harmony and the relationship between people and the natural world.

Along the Seine, layers of Parisian history have accumulated through centuries of urban life, from Roman times and the Middle Ages to the industrial era.

There are three things these two heritage sites share.

The first is continuity. Their historical value has not been cut off from the present. They have remained part of the city and continue to shape urban life.

The second is diversity. Alongside grand royal and monumental buildings are places closely connected with ordinary residents.

Heritage is not only found in palaces and landmarks; it can also be found in neighborhoods and streets where people live.

The third is everyday life. Beijing's Central Axis includes places where popular culture and intangible cultural heritage remain part of the city's life. The Seine, too, is not merely a landscape with a history. People still use the river for sports and recreation.

The two cities also share similar approaches to conservation: making the least intervention necessary, using technology to protect and restore heritage, bringing out its value through better interpretation, and finding ways to put historical sites to new uses.

The cultures of Beijing and Paris are different, but their experience points to the same principle: heritage is best protected when it remains connected to the life of the city. The past does not have to be separated from the present. It can continue to live, and to grow, alongside it.

Guo Jingning is the director of the Capital Museum.