The Old City of Beijing is the Ming and Qing city lying within the remains of the old city wall and moat, which in today's terms is the area lying within the Second Ring Road, occupying 62.5 square kilometers is one of the world's most well-known cultural heritage sites. To protect the Old City, the municipal government on 18 September 2002 promulgated a detailed protection plan and started to implement the plan from 16 October of that year. According to the stipulations of the Law on Municipal Planning of the PRC government, these plans have the power of law and must be enforced as such. Unless the plans have gone through the legally stipulated amendment process, the contents of the plans may not be altered.
The Old City protection plans of the City of Beijing are rich in substantive content. A few key points are shown below:
1. The convex-shaped borders of the Old City must be protected. Thirty meters of green space is to be maintained on the inner side of the East and West Second Ring Roads, symbolic of the old city walls that used to be there.
2. The form and colors of all new structures within the Old City must be in harmony with the overall style and features of the Old City. All single and multiple storey residences must have sloping roofs.
3. The first group of Old City Conservation zones (25 zones with a total area of 1038 hectares) must be protected strictly in accordance with the Protection Plan approved by Beijing City in February 2002. The protection of the second group of Old City Conservation zones (5 zones occupying 249 hectares) is to be governed by a protection plan that is to be prepared, approved, and implemented by the city government as quickly as possible. In the Imperial City conservation zone, structures of three storeys and higher, and structures not in keeping with the style and features of the Imperial City, are no longer to be approved; all the existing flat-roof structures within the Imperial City are to be converted to sloping roof structures.
4. The control of the height restrictions of the Old City are to be implemented in accordance with three criteria: all historical protected buildings are to be controlled in accordance with the Cultural Relics Protection Law; all buildings within the historical conservation zones are to be controlled in accordance with the requirements of the Protection Plan; remaining buildings are to be controlled according to the requirements of the Central Beijing District Detailed Control Plan.
5. All ancient relics within the Old City are to be strictly managed according to the Cultural Relics Protection Law. Such relics include World Heritage sites, national level protected sites, city level protected sites, district level protected sites, and including district level temporarily protected and under investigation sites.
6. The traditional names of Old City places are to be protected. Traditional names of streets and hutongs are not to be casually changed.
The Protection Plan for the Old City of Beijing, as promulgated by the Beijing municipal government, has the support of the central government of China, and was put in place on the foundation of broad public opinion support and widely solicited expert advice. Whether or not the plan can be strictly implemented determines the fate of the Old City. On the first of May, 2005, "The Regulations for the Protection of the Famous Historical Culture of Beijing" started to be implemented. The eighth clause of that regulation states that "Every unit and individual person in Beijing has an obligation to protect the historical Old City of Beijing, and moreover has the right to offer proposals regarding the enactment and implementation of the Protection Plan, to dissuade from, inform on, and bring accusations against any activities destructive of the historical city of Beijing".
When we look into the actual condition of the Old City, we find that the protection work has not been assiduously undertaken. The 30 meter green zone, symbolizing the old city wall, can scarcely be found; all over we find buildings that are not in harmony with the overall form and style of the Old City; there are frequently instances of forced demolition of old structures under the pretext that they are hazardous structures, and there seems no way to stop this sort of activity; some of the new structures are seriously in violation of height restrictions, and there is a forest of excessively high buildings is appearing within East Second Ring Road; many historical relics are inappropriately occupied and mis-used, to the extent that their appearance has been totally altered; traditional place names are beginning to disappear, replaced by names expressive of the mentality of the nouveau riche.
The state of affairs described above, to the extent that it occurred prior to the implementation of the plans, stems from stupidity and ignorance; to the extent that it occurred after the implementation of the plans, it is illegal. In the future we shall raise and analyze a few detailed examples of the destruction of the Old City, in order to enlist the public in the effective protection of the Old City of Beijing.
Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP)
http://www.bjchp.org
Suite 2308, Building 5
East Zone 1, Tiantong Garden,
Dongxiaokou Town, Changping District,
Beijing, 102218, China
Telephone: +86 10 61768040, +86 13366082836
Email: information@bjchp.org
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