Initiative breathes new life into ancient village as Shanghai aims to preserve culture

The Xinyuan village in Fengjing town, Shanghai's Jinshan district, is finding new vitality as it continuously deepens the integration of local renovation and Shanghai-style Jiangnan traditions, local officials said at a news briefing on Monday.

The Shanghai-style Jiangnan Xinyuan Unit is one of the city's first batch of pilot units aimed at the preservation and inheritance of the Shanghai-style Jiangnan landscape, an initiative launched by the city in 2024.

Located at the border between Shanghai and Zhejiang, the village preserves one of the city's few remaining layouts of polders that date back to the late Tang Dynasty (618-907).

From an aerial view, the village's network of waterways crisscrosses like a chessboard, with residential buildings arranged in a circular pattern along the sides. The waterways, polders, and homesteads are interwoven, forming a unique layout where "water surrounds the fields, fields surround the village, and the village rests by the water". Such a layout naturally forms an effective flood drainage system, safeguarding residents' daily lives for thousands of years.

"The dynamic landscape of the polders is exactly one of the village's Jiangnan icons," Shen Weifeng, Party secretary of Xinyuan village, said. "Preserving this system of harmony between humans and nature is essential in building our pilot Shanghai-style Jiangnan Xinyuan Unit."

The village, town, and district, as well as local residents, have jointly made significant efforts over the past two years, including river cleanup, environmental conservation, preservation of local traditions, home repairs, functional renovations of buildings, and enhancements to rural elder care services.

While old bridges, buildings, and houses are still well kept in the neighborhood, new ecological landscapes and tailor-made business forms have been carefully introduced to the village.

"The essence of the Shanghai-style Jiangnan landscape lies in the authentic lifestyles and its sustainable development," Shen said. "Cookie-cutter commercialized renovations, however, will erode the unique features of the water town."

Looking to the future, the Xinyuan pilot unit will stay committed to ramping up ecological, cultural, industrial, and governance efforts in tandem, aiming to ensure the millennia-old landscape in the village remains vibrant and sustainable.