Thoughts on the protection of cultural buildings?

1. Historical background

Qingguo Lane is an ancient lane built along the river in the center of Changzhou. It was built during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, when the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal entered the west through Wenheng Bridge. Shuiguan, passing through the east and west ponds, passing through the city, then exiting Dongshuiguan and winding eastward. It is said that during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Qingguo Alley became a distribution center for all kinds of fruits from the south to the north due to its proximity to the canal, hence the name "Qianguo Alley", also known as "Qingguo Alley". "Changzhou Fu" says: "Entering the alley of thousands of fruits, the peach, plum, apricot and plum colors are all in bloom." Later, the canal was rerouted, and the name of the alley still remains to this day. Qingguo Alley has extremely rich historical and cultural connotations. Over the past hundreds of years, due to its "scent of books filling the alley and the fragrance of the ink river", talents have emerged in large numbers. According to incomplete statistics, more than a hundred Jinshi have come out of Qingguo Alley, many of whom have won the "No. 1 Scholar" ", "Chuanlu" honors, officials to ministers, governors, and those with high positions in the second rank. In modern times, many celebrities have emerged, such as Sheng Xuanhuai, Qu Qiubai, Zhao Yuanren, Zhou Youguang and so on. There are many former residences of celebrities, temples, theaters, bridge monuments, and ancient wells and docks left in Qingguo Lane. There are nearly 20 former residences of celebrities that remain, such as the former residence of Tang Jingchuan, the former residence of Li Boyuan, the former residence of Sheng Xuanhuai, the former residence of Zhao Yuanren, etc. The historical origin, humanistic connotation and classical architecture of Qingguo Lane are not only unique in Changzhou, but also rare in Jiangsu Province. Its historical and cultural value is immeasurable.

2. Problems caused by Changzhou’s economic prosperity

(1) Rapid economic development for more than 30 years of reform and opening up, it is known as “the important auxiliary of China and Wu, and the famous capital of eight cities” Changzhou, known as Changzhou, takes advantage of its huge location advantage as a central city in the Yangtze River Delta region, adheres to reform and opening up and scientific and technological innovation as the driving force, develops the economy and improves people's livelihood as the main line, and takes industrialization, urbanization and modernization as the approach to focus on economic work. and the construction of major projects, constantly optimizing the development environment, and striving to lay a solid foundation for development. The city's national economy has achieved a qualitative leap based on the total breakthrough, achieved industrial improvement based on structural adjustment, and the overall development level and development quality have been stable. Improvement, material foundation has been continuously enhanced, comprehensive strength has been significantly improved, and it occupies an important position in the development of the national economy of Jiangsu Province. (See Table 1) We can easily see from Table 1 that during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, Changzhou's GDP doubled, and the per capita GDP level also achieved huge improvements. As of 2012, Changzhou's GDP growth has exceeded 10% in recent years, which is ahead of the national development level in the same period. (2) The protection of historical buildings is urgent. With the changes of the times and the vicissitudes of history, only ordinary people in Changzhou now live in Qingguo Lane. And we can only recall the past scene where "the unripe green fruits taste astringent, but the fragrance of autumn fills the garden." In such a busy city, Qingguo Lane is an incredible place. Surrounded by rows of high-rise buildings, it is like a paradise. This is a typical building in the Jiangnan water town. Small bridges, flowing water, and moss-covered stone roads all tell its history. In the 1980s, Qingguo Lane was still able to maintain its original appearance, and the buildings exuded the charm of Jiangnan Water Town. As early as 1987, it was announced as a Changzhou Historical and Cultural Reserve by the Changzhou Municipal Government. However, due to historical reasons, Qingguo Lane has not been fully protected and repaired. In the past ten years, with the accelerated pace of urban construction, many buildings around Qingguo Lane have been demolished for the development of South Street in the city center, and some original parts that were incompatible with modern commercial streets have been demolished. After many demolitions or reconstructions, it has been completely changed beyond recognition. Only the main block remains with less than half of its original area. The former momentum is gone, and protection work is urgent.

3. Discussion on whether there is a conflict between economic development and historical buildings

So will economic development definitely have a negative impact on historical and cultural buildings? There are currently two opinions in society: on the one hand, with the deepening of urbanization, the contradiction between urban construction and cultural heritage protection is extremely prominent. Many historical buildings are located in the center of the city, just like Qingguo Alley in Changzhou. Under the pressure of the huge demand for urban development space and the increasing shortage of land supply, vicious incidents of demolishing historical buildings and conducting real estate development in pursuit of short-term economic benefits have occurred from time to time. This has caused irreparable damage to cultural heritage protection, urban fabric and personality characteristics. Famous scholar Feng Jicai also believes that the protection of historical heritage is under unprecedented impact. Faced with such an impact, on the one hand, we must strengthen the consciousness of the whole society for cultural protection, and on the other hand, we also need various progressive concepts, methods, and experiences to solve the practical problems of historical building protection.

On the other hand, some scholars believe that as a high-level resource of the city, there is no contradiction between the protection of historical and cultural cities and economic development, but rather they should be able to promote each other. This is not uncommon at home and abroad. The smoke of World War II almost destroyed the entire UK. In the process of choosing a reconstruction method, the city's decision-makers did not build a new urban area to replace it, but restored and recast it on the original site. This move created immeasurable economic benefits for the future. The same is true for Lijiang in China. The service industry accounts for close to 50% and generates more than 85% of the fiscal revenue. These are all due to its special urban image and historical accumulation. This can also prove that the protection of historical and cultural buildings is valuable and will increase in value. Judging from the current problems that have arisen in the protection process of Qingguo Lane, the following problems can be summarized: First, the demolition of cultural relics and ancient buildings ignores relevant laws and regulations. Some units and developers act recklessly, and some even demolish cultural relics buildings before reporting them to relevant departments. This quick success approach that emphasizes construction and neglects protection will cause permanent damage to ancient buildings. Secondly, there is insufficient cooperation between departments, making it difficult to implement protection. Some units either do not actively provide housing files, or refuse to pay for the production of signs for cultural relics and ancient buildings under various excuses. The surrounding residents do not know that the buildings are cultural relics, and use them at will or even damage them, causing the basic protection of ancient buildings to exist in name only. Finally, the repair method is improper. Some ancient buildings with cultural relics are occupied by schools and related enterprises. Many of these buildings have been renovated by users, installing modern doors, windows, stairs, and building brick walls. These ancient buildings have been completely changed beyond recognition, putting economic benefits ahead of social benefits and over-operating enterprises, resulting in the "four dissimilarities" of protected buildings.

4. Solutions from an economic perspective

From an economic perspective, the protection and cultural inheritance of the Qingguo Lane neighborhood should be a synthesis of commodities and items. From an architectural perspective, its historical imprint and the effective use of developers can become a high-value commodity; in addition, from the perspective of cultural heritage, humanities and art, it is also a public item for the public to admire. Therefore, its complexity must be fully considered when studying its costs and benefits. Judging from the current development situation of Qingguo Lane, first of all, the developer will incur certain expenses in the process of obtaining the right to develop the block; then there is the cost of short-term renovation and restoration; and finally there is the cost of daily management and maintenance after completion. In the past, it was because of the high cost of repairing historical and cultural buildings that developers who only looked at short-term profits were deterred. From the perspective of income, in addition to daily rent and commercial income from public places, there is also the future prosperity of regional real estate, business and other aspects due to the high value of the neighborhood. But these benefits require more time to accumulate, so smart developers must have foresight. Therefore, how to achieve a balance between costs and benefits, or even achieve revenue generation, should be the key to the solution.

(1) Pursuing the "Blue Ocean" The corporate strategy of enterprises to transcend traditional industry competition and create new markets is the "Blue Ocean Strategy". The "blue ocean" here is not an area without competition, but a brand-new market area obtained through differentiation, where companies can achieve faster growth and higher profits by relying on their innovation capabilities. The same is true when it comes to the protection of historical and cultural buildings. It is crucial to find the unique and beautiful points of the neighborhood during protection and develop them. As mentioned above, a short Qingguo Lane has produced so many famous people at home and abroad, including the patriotic industrialist Liu Guojun, Tang Jingchuan, one of the "Three Great Masters of Jiajing", Zhou Youguang, the modern linguist "the father of Pinyin", etc. It can be called celebrity lane. The celebrity culture and humanistic atmosphere are the unique features of this neighborhood and must be highlighted.

Therefore, three cultural axes can be formed on the basis of the original buildings: the traditional cultural display axis of Qingguo Lane, the restoration of the former residences of the Ming and Qing Dynasties with eight Tang houses as the main body, and the juxtaposition of multiple courtyards in the north and south of Qingguo Lane with deep courtyards. , on this basis, celebrity culture, traditional business, and folk culture are organically integrated to display the long-standing traditional culture of Qingguo Lane; the ancient canal scenery tour axis, with the theme of canal culture, restores the natural form of the Nanshi River and the ancient buildings on both sides Objects, river ports and bridges are organically integrated with the ancient canal tour plan to comprehensively display the water town scenery of the ancient canal water and the scattered residential styles with whitewashed walls and black tiles; the Tianjing Lane ancient street experience axis is based on the theme of exploring the ancient alleys. , restore the original texture of the streets and lanes, organically connect the patio lanes with the surrounding streets and lanes, and jointly form criss-crossing streets and lanes extending in all directions, forming a representative street and lane experience space in the ancient city of Changzhou.

(2) Renovation and renovation work that emphasizes both commercialization and commercialization requires a good grasp of "degree" in order to achieve a high degree of harmony between urban economic development and cultural protection. Among them, Chengdu’s “Kuanzhai Alley” is a successful example. As the new "business card" of Chengdu's cultural tourism and the "living fossil" of Chengdu, the Kuanzhai Alley has successfully avoided the abnormal migration of residents similar to that seen in parts of the ancient city of Lijiang, Yunnan, without losing the historical authenticity and living life of the block, and has completely preserved the old Chengdu. It is the last remnant of the "Millennium Young City" urban pattern and the century-old authentic architectural pattern, while incorporating fashion elements to show its diverse voice and charm. There are nearly 50 building clusters built in the core area of ??the alley. They are composed of courtyards, garden mansions, courtyard-style boutique hotels and other distinctive building clusters. The scale is relatively low and concentrated. At present, a large number of famous domestic and foreign merchants have settled in Kuanzhai Alley, and many cultural celebrities have also settled in it. In 2008, Louis Vuitton held a Louis Vuitton classic car parade in Chengdu. Kuanzhai Alley was the first stop in China for this parade, officially entering the world's horizons. The marketing model that increases its influence by linking with international first-line brand activities is worth learning from. This model is flexibly applied to the renovation and development of the Qingguo Lane neighborhood. The presence of the indigenous people adds a lot of life and reality. Coupled with the creative fair, themed activities, second classroom of historical education, etc., it not only protects and promotes architecture and culture, but also promotes the development of regional economy, killing two birds with one stone. We must be wary of problems such as the "holiday economy" and "cloning" of development models that often occur in the development process of Chinese ancient towns, with similar tourism resources and fake antiques taking over the guests. We must always put cultural and social benefits first.

The trend of my country’s economic development is irreversible. While everyone is applauding the economic situation, we must not ignore the ancient buildings and blocks that have stood in the city for hundreds of years. They tell immortal legends and inherit the fine traditions of our ancestors. Professor Ruan Yisan, the guardian of the ancient city, once said, what is the charm of our city? In addition to wearing the same cement and steel coat, how many memories can be repeated? It doesn't matter if you throw away your clothes. Throwing away valuable ancient buildings is equivalent to throwing away your own Grandma Bridge. Therefore, in this era where economic benefits are given priority, we must call on all sectors of society to take action so that the protection of historical and cultural buildings and economic construction can develop in a coordinated and mutually beneficial manner!

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