Old Guangzhou, new stories

Guangzhou Yongqingfang characteristic cultural and commercial pedestrian street. Picture/Visual China

Old Guangzhou, new story

Staff reporter/Li Jing

Published in the 1023rd issue of \”China News Weekly\” on December 6, 2021

\”How about some tea today?\”

In the early morning, the sun has just climbed up the outer wall of Enning Road. The old neighbors coming out of the old houses on both sides of the road are greeting each other. The copper art shop that has not yet opened has already begun to make a \”ding-dong\” sound, not far away In Yongqingfang The faint sounds of Cantonese opera are heard, and the owner of the cured meat shop throws the roasted goose on the chopping board. Various sounds are mixed together, intertwining the lively urban life in Xiguan, Guangzhou.

You only need to walk 200 meters, take Line 1 at Huangsha Station of the Metro, and drive east for just over 20 minutes. When you get out of Tiyu West Road Station, you will see the Tianhe Sports Center, which is overflowing with light and lined with skyscrapers. Across the river from Guangzhou\’s new landmark – \”Xiaomanyao\”

In old Guangzhou, there was a saying that \”Miss Xiguan, young master Dongshan\”, the dignified Dongshan and the classical and graceful Xiguan. These eight words describe the vicissitudes and changes of old Guangzhou over the past century. This It is a thousand-year-old commercial capital that established the basic layout of the traditional city during the Tang and Song Dynasties. The traditional culture of the west was accumulated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. During this period, eastern modern culture emerged in modern times, and the eastern and western parts of the city had completely different temperaments, forming a unique urban cultural phenomenon. In the renovation and renovation of old cities and ancient villages, Guangzhou has also increasingly found a way to revitalize the vitality of old city neighborhoods. , a unique \”micro-transformation\” model that continues the revitalization and renewal of urban context.

In April 2019, Guangzhou\’s new urban renewal policy \”Guangzhou City\’s Implementation Rules for Deepening Urban Renewal Work\” was issued, requiring the micro-renovation of old villages to pay attention to historical culture and natural ecological protection. In July 2021, the Guangzhou Municipal Government again In the \”Guangzhou Urban Renewal Regulations (Draft for Comments)\”, it is clarified that large-scale demolition is strictly controlled in urban renewal actions, and \”micro-renovation\” takes into account cultural inheritance and industrial renewal.

As a symbol of social civilization, cities are the result of shaping human behavior, and in turn, shape human behavior. Guangzhou has been a major foreign trade center since the early Tang Dynasty. As a door that China has never closed, it has developed a unique Lingnan culture that is open, inclusive and pragmatic. It has transformed this ancient capital everywhere and has been immersed in thousands of years of urban changes.

\”Micro-renovation\” activates urban memory

The 86-year-old Huang Tianji, a professor of the Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University, is an authentic Guangzhou native. He was born in 1935 , the Enning Road where he lives, now known as \”the most beautiful old street in Guangzhou\”, was only built four years ago. In his childhood memories, Baoyuan Road and Yongqingfang were only a few hundred meters away from his home, where many classmates and relatives lived. He walked on the granite road and walked through these streets and alleys every day. He entered through this door and made many twists and turns. , came out from another door, and instantly traveled to another alley. Whether they are residential or commercial, the buildings facing the street are usually arcades, connected together, so there is no need to bring an umbrella when it rains.

A copper shop in Yongqingfang. Picture/Visual China

After being admitted to Sun Yat-sen University in 1952, Huang Tianji left Xiguan where he grew up. But whenever he has time, he will always come back. A few months ago, he just made a special trip to Xiguan just to see Yongqingfang, which has become an Internet celebrity area. The neighborhood filled with trendy shops, cafes and bustling crowds was certainly no longer the alley where his grandmother and mother-in-law lived in his memory, but it still felt familiar to him. Huang Tianji told \”China News Weekly\” that he did not study architecture and did not know the specific techniques of \”micro-renovation\”. He just felt that those blocks were like childhood friends, reappearing in front of him with a different appearance, but their souls have not changed. , \”As soon as I saw \’him\’, the image I had seen when I was a child reappeared.\”

Perhaps, this is what General Secretary Xi Jinping said when he visited Yongqingfang, Liwan District, Guangzhou in October 2018, \”Let the city leave memories and let people Remember Nostalgia”.

Just a few years ago, “micro-modification” was a new term. When Song Gang, the founder of Shuliangshe and the chief designer of Yongqingfang, first took over the Yongqingfang project in 2015, many buildings in the entire area had collapsed, the buildings were empty, weeds were overgrown, the sewer system was poor, wires were messy, and the community was dirty. Shabby. At that time, Guangzhou had proposed reduction planning in the old city to protect the old block texture and traditional arcade streets, but there was not much experience to follow on how to explore a new path for old city renewal.

Since \”big demolition and big construction\” cannot be done, Song Gang finally retained the original planning and design for Yongqingfang. The shape of the old street and the spatial texture of Lingnan buildings and residential areas remained unchanged, strengthening the overall style and characteristics, and integrating the \”old\” and \”old\” New\” organic combination. The overall renovation design focuses on renovation and improvement, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to \”retention\” or \”restoration.\” He hopes that the project will become a neighborhood with urban life and substantial business formats, rather than an empty retro shell.

This way Come, it will be a great test for design and construction. In terms of design, one household has one policy, and each house has its own drawings, which are carefully screened according to different situations, and corresponding modifications are carried out to maintain the overall sense of continuity in the neighborhood. The construction also required repeated discussions, such as the repair of the facade. In the end, the method of laying brick walls was adopted, and the original facade was carefully preserved. This had to be dismantled and reinforced at the same time. In some places, bricks even had to be removed piece by piece to ensure The original facade is intact. The design team also took photos and recorded the unnoticed historical details in the neighborhood, such as carvings, wrought iron railings, wooden windows, sliding doors, etc. during the survey process, requesting that they be restored to their original appearance as much as possible.

The marginalization of the old city is essentially a problem of urban ecology. If it does not solve the dilemma of urban life content, it will not help. Therefore, the renovation of Yongqingfang is not only to make it beautiful and better, but also to consider the commercial aspect. operations. When Song Gang and his team evaluated all the buildings in the early stages, they had already deduced the suitable business format for each building and made the layout. For example, those that are deeper and quieter inside are used for offices, and those that are outside and more accessible are used for commercial buildings. On the facades of commercial buildings, the windows should be opened as large as possible and a series of display windows should be made to attract crowds.

Meeting numerous design needs is not the top priority for the design team. The biggest difficulty in the renovation of Yongqingfang is that only 70% to 80% of the units to be renovated are public properties, and the rest are private properties. Song Gang and his team not only have to design a plan, but also need to do a lot of coordination and persuasion. There are even neighborhood uncles and aunts who often come to instruct him: \”Hey, your design can\’t work this way, you should…\” He remembers that there are a total of 80 houses that need to be renovated in the first phase of Yongqingfang. Some buildings have repeatedly revised the drawings due to complex conditions. There will even be dozens of revisions. \”It was really grueling. The drawings were constantly changing, and the construction process was repeatedly adjusted.\” Song Gang recalled to China News Weekly.

Today, Yongqingfang, as a benchmark project for the renovation of Guangzhou\’s old city, has become a national intangible cultural heritage district. In October 2021, the Guangzhou Yongqingfang protection and activation project won the award in the construction field – Architectural Society of China Architectural Design Award. The term \”micro-renovation\” also comes from here, providing another way to revitalize the old city centers in Guangzhou and even across the country.

Aerial photography of Yongqingfang Historic District Picture/Visual China

Song Gang said frankly that when he took on this project, his understanding of the so-called \”micro-renovation\” was far less than it is now, and the overall functional positioning of the block was still vague. He had not yet accurately grasped it, and he did not expect that the final project would be But it is also because of this that the unprecedented exploration and the frankness of \”the ignorant are fearless\” have enabled the team to make many very creative developments. Repair, restore, and strengthen old houses with historical value to restore the historical appearance as faithfully as possible; on the other hand, we also eliminate the rough and retain the essence, and boldly introduce the transparent, open, flexible, and creative elements required by modern business formats, such as the center of the block. In the shared atrium, Song Gang completely opened up the location where the bamboo tube house is combined to bring in fresh air and sunlight. This is a tailor-made design for the shared office community.

New and The old collision once attracted sharp criticism from industry professionals.Critics believe that the new concept destroys the original Lingnan flavor of the ancient city. However, the people of Guangzhou quickly accepted the transformed Yongqingfang, and Yongqingfang became full of vitality. According to the initial positioning, Yongqingfang will introduce offices, supporting apartments, education and other industries after completion. But after five years of development, its merchants have become more and more diversified, with coffee shops, theaters, and cultural and creative shops gathering here. No matter when you come to Yongqingfang, you can see \”artistic young people\” dressed in unique styles everywhere, and there is an endless stream of people on weekend nights.

The most commendable thing is that in the park that was finally renovated, while there are numerous commercial and cultural activities, it also seamlessly connects with the daily life of the old neighbors who are reluctant to move away. Next to or even upstairs from Internet celebrity cafes and Japanese jewelry stores where young people line up to take photos, there are old residents drying out their vests and underpants on the terrace. And just around the corner, there are old craftsmen sitting in front of their homes repairing shoes and furniture. , not to make any money, but because I have lived in the old street all my life and have some skills. I don’t want to be idle and also serve the neighbors.

Artistic young people were looking for angles to take selfies, while the old man watching TV behind the half-open door turned a deaf ear to the excitement just a few feet away. Different worlds are intertwined. The hustle and bustle of business and the leisure of urban life are tolerant and symbiotic with each other. This also makes Yongqingfang have no sense of artificial scenery or symbols, but exudes real human touch and fireworks. This seemingly strange but harmonious urban space seems to only appear in Guangzhou, and only here does it not violate the harmony.

Guangzhou Beijing Road and the historical relics on display. Photography/Ji Dong

Innovation and change in a thousand-year commercial capital

Xiang Shui Guangzhou, which was born and prospered because of water, was once a water city with rivers like alleys. Until the 1970s, Guangzhou people still used to call the Pearl River that runs through the city \”the sea.\”

In ancient times, the indigenous people of Guangzhou were \”Yue\”. The beginning of Guangzhou\’s founding seemed to be the \”Nanwu City\” of the Spring and Autumn Period recorded in \”The Chronicles of the Ancient Sages of Baiyue\” by Ou Daren of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the Yue people cultivated arboriculture, fished in the sea, and wooded mountains. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the Central Plains was constantly being conquered, Guangzhou still had clear rivers and seas with its five-ridge barrier. The Yue people were not only physically strong but also paid attention to the quality of life. In the Feieling area of ​​​​Longdong, Guangzhou, there were archaeological sites. A jade ring used for decoration more than 4,000 years ago was discovered.

As Qin Shihuang wiped out the six kingdoms, in 221 BC, Qin sent an army of 500,000 southward. In terms of number of combatants and combat experience, the Baiyue army was far inferior to the Qin army. However, the tattooed Yue people fought fiercely with the Qin army for ten years, which prevented the Qin people from entering the land of Baiyue. The generals of the Later Qin army, Zhao Tuo and Ji Baiyue, united the Yue leaders and gradually gained local support. After Lingnan was included in the territory of the Qin Dynasty, Han people from the Central Plains continued to move into the area, and the customs and cultures of the north and the south merged. These fierce and brave Yue people and the Han people who sought to change their destiny and moved their families south had something in common in their deep consciousness. They collided with each other and created the deepest gene in Lingnan culture – innovation and change.

Sanyuanli Anti-British, Huanghuagang Uprising, Guangzhou Uprising… Guangzhou in modern times is also the birthplace of the Chinese revolution. Liu Lizi, deputy director of the Institute of Urban Culture of the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, told China News Weekly , in China’s mainstream culture, perhaps Lingnan culture is not so prominent. But whenever China encounters bottlenecks in its development, at key historical nodes, Lingnan culture, or the Cantonese people with Guangzhou as the core, shows their strong spirit of exploration and execution. From key events in modern history This has been true since the reform and opening up after the founding of New China.

Innovation and change have given birth to strong openness and integration capabilities, which are closely related to Guangzhou’s status as a commercial port since ancient times and have also affected the entire urban space of Guangzhou. From the Han Dynasty to the Six Dynasties, Guangzhou’s business, especially Overseas trade has been quite active. Foreign trade exchanges expanded from Southeast Asia to India, Sri Lanka and the Arabian Peninsula. Starting from the Tang Dynasty, Guangzhou further developed. It gradually became a major import and export port in the country and a world-famous trading port city. The Tang Dynasty established a foreign trade management official in Guangzhou, which was China\’s earliest foreign trade official. Today, the area from Huangpu to Miaotou was a natural foreign trade port for overseas merchant ships. The harbor, Baietan on the Pearl River in the city, is a deep-water inner harbor where Chinese and foreign merchant ships berth and trade. It was bustling and prosperous for a while.

\”Old Book of Tang\” records that in 770 AD alone, more than 4,000 ships entered and exited Guangzhou Port. The prosperity of foreign trade caused overseas merchants to gather in Guangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, and their number reached more than ten Thousands of people settled in Guangzhou, and they were called \”Tangbo people\”. The Guangzhou government set aside an area in the west of the city (today\’s Guangta Road), bounded by the river, and called it \”Fanfang\” for the Tangbo people to live in.

After the Song Dynasty , Guangzhou merged \”Fanfang\” in the west with the old city in the east, and manyIt was not until the 42nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1563) that the city of Guangzhou underwent its last large-scale expansion. The city site started from today\’s Yuexiu Road in the east, to today\’s Renmin Road in the west, and to today\’s Wanfu Road and Taikang Road, which were close to the Pearl River at that time, in the south. , crossing Xiushan in the north. At this point, the scale of Guangzhou City has been finalized. From the Qing Dynasty for more than two hundred years until the founding of New China, the area and scale of Guangzhou City remained unchanged.

The port advantage from ancient times until the Qing Dynasty\’s \”one-stop trade\” has kept Guangzhou at the forefront of accepting foreign cultures. The inclusive spirit of Lingnan culture has gradually been reflected in urban space construction and planning. The most representative building among them is the arcade. The origin of this typical verandah-style building can be traced back to the \”Parthenon\” in Greece about 2,500 years ago. It was later brought to India and other South and Southeast Asian countries by British colonists. In the 1920s, it traveled to various places. The overseas Chinese in Guangzhou brought this Nanyang Western heterogeneous architectural culture back to Guangzhou.

Although the Cantonese-style arcade is an imported product, it has been improved according to local conditions. Cantonese people expanded the porches and connected them into corridors along the street. Above the corridor are residences. One side of the corridor is open to the street, and the other side is a store window. Walking You can see the store\’s products at a glance under the corridor. The appearance also incorporates traditional Chinese architectural elements. For example, the walls are mostly made of Chinese-style exposed bricks. The most distinctive Chinese architectural feature is the Manchurian window, the unique symbol of the Xiguan House, where solid wood window frames are inlaid with yellow and green or painted The small pieces of glass and the pediment eaves on the top are also made into soft arched roofs with Chinese characteristics. Guangzhou people combine Western architecture with tradition without leaving any trace, and finally become a whole of its own.

Some well-known landmarks in Guangzhou.

In the eyes of Huang Tianji, a professor at the Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University, the arcade is the most vivid annotation of the diverse and compatible characteristics of Guangzhou\’s thousand-year commercial capital and Lingnan culture. Just like the traditional Cantonese snacks and rice porridge: \”If you put everything down, it will be good.\” Ate. The porridge contains chicken offal, beef offal, and fish fillet. The mixture is a perfect blend. Different nutrition, different taste. \”It can be said that Qilou is the embodiment of Guangzhou people\’s pragmatic attitude and learning wisdom in inheritance and innovation. They neither separate from tradition nor stick to tradition, and never use a single standard to look at things. This kind of openness, rationality and pragmatism Cultural spirit has always accompanied Guangzhou’s economic and social changes

The 1920s and 1930s were the peak period for the construction of arcades. Huang Tianji still remembers that when he was a child, he heard from the elderly at home that the government encouraged the construction of arcades. At that time, he walked to the \”New Yitai Building\” on Zhongshan 4th Road. \”At the entrance of the store, at a glance, there are densely packed arcades. . Under the arcade, children play chess, make paper dolls, and dance with rubber bands. Adults enjoy tea and do business. When the weather is stormy, people stand under the arcade to take shelter from the rain… That is the old man. The vivid lives and memories of the \”Lao Guang\” generation.

Looking at a map of old Guangzhou, there were once densely distributed 59 arcade street sections in an area of ​​about 15 square kilometers in the old city, with a total length of more than 40 kilometers. The arcades became the most prominent street scene in old Guangzhou.

Also during this period, the focus of Guangzhou\’s urban development gradually moved eastward. 2In the early 20th century, when the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway was under construction, Western-educated designers and builders gathered near East Lake. They drank coffee and played tennis. The modern urban lifestyle gradually left its mark on the eastern part of the city. Subsequently, Americans built the first church in Dongshan, and enlightened people such as returned overseas Chinese, professors, doctors, foreign compradors, senior politicians, and industrialists slowly gathered around. They built the first church on Xinhepu Road and Guigang in Dongshan. Land was bought and houses were built along the main road, and many Western-style villas were built, such as Chen Mansion and Baiyun Tower. Eastern Guangzhou began to form modern urban features. At the same time, due to the dense commerce in the west of the city, there are shopping malls, post and telecommunications buildings and other buildings that are closely related to citizens\’ lives. When modern urban products such as airports, hospitals, and universities that require large areas of land appeared, they naturally chose the east.

Pan An, author of \”Past Stories of the Shang Capital: Research Notes on the History of Guangzhou City\” and president of the Guangzhou Planning Association, told \”China News Weekly\” that since the Republic of China, eastern Guangzhou has been transformed in terms of life style, urban ecology and urban character. Functions increasingly reflect modern urban characteristics, gradually forming a different urban temperament from the Xiguan area.

Taotaoju is a time-honored brand located on Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street in Guangzhou. Photography/Xiao Xiong

The narrative logic of Lingnan culture’s inclusiveness and openness

The compatibility of Lingnan culture is not only reflected externally, but also internally. It is imbued with a kind of secular tolerance. Compared with other cultures, Lingnan culture is more market-oriented, but this kind of market-oriented culture is not vulgar, but because it is less constrained and more casual and free. The city is more able to develop according to its own wishes, and the people pay more attention to their own lives.

This makes Guangzhou the first city in China to have urban public spaces. In 1884, Zhang Zhidong established China\’s earliest museum based on the Guangzhou Shixue Museum. Before the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao and other reformists established the \”Wanmu Thatched Cottage Library\”, launching an important attempt in modern library development in Guangzhou.

Until the reform and opening up in the 1980s, Guangzhou still retained a set of self-narrative logic and built some new small-scale lively modernist buildings. The overall urban style did not change significantly.

The real changes came after the reform and opening up, and in the tide of modernization unseen in three thousand years, Guangzhou, like most cities in China, did not escape the roar of machines and rapid progress.

For example, Dongshan Meihua Village, where Nanyang Garden Villas were built during the Republic of China, was originally included in the protection scope and required the preservation of the more than 20 small Western-style buildings in the core area. However, due to development pressure, it was eventually closed in the 1990s. middle of the decadeDuring the period, Meihua Village was demolished until only the Chen Jitang Mansion remained.

The detour that Guangzhou has taken in its old city reconstruction at the end of the last century is actually a microcosm of many famous historical and cultural cities in the country. \”Due to society\’s one-sided understanding of modernization, many people believe that high-rise buildings, busy traffic, viaducts and large squares are the image of a prosperous city. In the early days of reform and opening up, although our economy developed rapidly, the values ​​​​and aesthetics of officials and ordinary people Still stuck in the poverty era,\” Li Xiaojiang, former president of the China Urban Planning and Design Institute, told China News Weekly, \”In fact, the main roads are for cars, and the small streets are for people.\”

Cantonese opera \”The Legend of White Snake·Love\”. Photography/Ji Dong

It is difficult for anyone to escape from the era in which they live. Looking back on that period of history, Pan An, who served as the director of the Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau from 2003 to 2007, lamented to China News Weekly: \”That era had its difficulties. From the lessons of many failures, we finally understood How to build our own city. Of course, looking back today, we often think that it would have been better if we had been more forward-looking. ”

The damage to history and culture caused by the renovation of Guangzhou\’s old city was curbed around 2000, and the city re-established the development strategy of \”opening up the pattern, building new districts, and protecting famous cities.\” Since 2003, Tsinghua University and Guangdong Provincial Planning The planners of the institute conducted a comprehensive survey of Guangzhou City and the cultural context of Guangzhou for two thousand years. Carry out carpet surveys of the historical urban areas of Guangzhou, and conduct careful mapping of Guangfu South Road and other historical blocks to obtain detailed information for comprehensive protection planning, and delineate the scope of the historical urban area, which will serve as the focus and core of the future protection of Guangzhou\’s historical and cultural cities. Protection measures are proposed for the outline and building height.

In January 2019, when the first regulation for the protection of arcade streets in Guangzhou, the \”Guangzhou Arcade Street Protection and Utilization Plan\” was released, it was found out that the \”family background\” of Guangzhou\’s arcade streets – the total length of traditional arcade streets is 26.5 kilometers. Compared with the total length of more than 40 kilometers in the 1930s, although a lot of the arcades have been lost, more than half of them are still preserved.

Those old residents who were unwilling to leave their hometown were not forcibly moved during urban construction. Many ancient villages were partially preserved, which also gave the city considerable ability to correct mistakes. \”Even if the external environment changes, If the external force weakens, the development trajectory will deviate, and it can quickly return to its own track after the external force weakens. \” said Pan An, former director of the Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau.

The power of Cantonese life

Walk in Guangzhou streets and alleys, it’s always easy to find the citysigns of growth. Old-fashioned bamboo tube houses stand side by side, and the fish-scale tiles have the rhythm of traditional Lingnan houses. Simple bungalows, shops and even kindergartens and schools surround them, mixed with each other, and further out, there are new commercial and residential communities, and The inner ring is crisscrossed by elevated highways.

\”Mixed urban texture\”, this is Guangzhou in the eyes of Song Gang, the chief designer of Yongqingfang. He used Tianjin as a comparison: both are large cities with rich historical features, but Tianjin has a strong overall order and shows strong planning. In contrast, Guangzhou\’s citizens have a well-developed culture and an active economy. The spontaneity and naturalness of urban construction are very obvious. They pay more attention to individuals\’ own needs and feelings rather than rules and meanings.

This coincides with Li Xiaojiang’s impression of Guangzhou, the former president of the China Urban Planning and Design Institute. Having participated in Guangzhou’s urban development planning many times, his most prominent feeling about Guangzhou is, “Guangzhou is based on your own life. The idea survives”. Vigorous and calm and pragmatic, these two seemingly opposite qualities are magically unified in the spiritual level of Guangzhou people.

The developed citizen culture has also helped Guangzhou gradually find its way in urban governance. At the end of 2006, the renovation of dilapidated houses on Enning Road was launched as the first old city renovation project under Guangzhou’s “Middle Adjustment” (the central city development guidelines of eastward expansion, westward connection, southern expansion, and northern optimization). There are still differences in understanding of cultural protection, and the planning plan has never been determined.

In November 2007, the Jinsheng Cinema, built in 1932 and located at the junction of Enning Road and Baohua Road, closed due to \”failure to meet fire protection standards\” and no money for rectification. After several twists and turns, and amid the controversy over whether to demolish or not to demolish, Jinsheng Cinema still opened in 20It was completely demolished in March 2010, leaving only the archway. For many old Xiguan people, Jinsheng Cinema is more than just a cinema. It is an arcade building built with funds raised by overseas Chinese, and it also carries the happy times of several generations.

People drink morning tea at Guangzhou Restaurant, a time-honored restaurant in Lizhiwan District, Guangzhou. Photography/Xiao Xiong

In June 2011, the Enning Road reconstruction plan was unanimously approved by the Guangzhou Municipal Planning Committee. It abandoned the basic idea of ​​complete demolition and proposed to realize the restoration of the old city through various methods such as protecting arcades and rebuilding rivers. Protection of historical culture. At this time, Guangzhou also proposed to make a reduction plan in the old city and no longer demolish and build large-scale buildings. In March 2015, the Guangzhou Urban Renewal Bureau was officially established, which was the first in China to incorporate the responsibilities of renovating the \”three olds\” (old towns, old factories, and old villages) and coordinating the improvement of urban and rural living environment. Song Gang told China News Weekly that it was against this background that the \”micro-transformation\” experiment of Yongqingfang was launched and ultimately succeeded.

In 2016, Guangzhou launched the renovation of old communities, the \”micro-renovation\” of Embroidery Kungfu was fully rolled out, and the Yongqingfang model was copied and promoted. According to statistics from Guangzhou City, there are 2,831 old residential areas in the city, with a total construction area of ​​approximately 70 million square meters. As of the end of May 2020, Guangzhou has completed a total of 323 \”micro-renovation\” projects in old communities, benefiting 40,000 households, 1500,000 people, and 30.94 million square meters of old buildings were renovated. A poll conducted by the Guangzhou Bureau of Statistics shows that 81.5% of the citizens surveyed believe that \”micro-renovation\” of old communities has improved the quality of life.

\”When it rains heavily, the streets flood\” was once a nursery rhyme passed down from generation to generation on the streets of Guangzhou. The old villages and streets have been renovated and improved in terms of municipal administration, greening, transportation and fire protection. Huang Tianji, who walked out of the Xiguan house, said, \”Old houses need to be renovated. Not only are they safer, the whole block looks clean and tidy, and even the roads have become smooth.\” Renovated houses are easier to preserve, and they will no longer exist. Because of \”shabby \”, \”dangerous houses\” and other reasons were demolished, but it is these residential houses with fresh historical blood flowing in them. The viewfinder generally locks the scattered scenery and people in the ancient long alley behind them, and then turns into soil, nourishing The youthful energy of the city.

Now Huang Tianji lives near Sun Yat-sen University, which has a very different temperament from Xiguan, but he feels that the arcade is not far away from him. Especially in recent years, he has noticed that many of the new office buildings and commercial centers use the open lobby on the first floor. \”Isn\’t this still an arcade? Our Lingnan style has not changed.\”

From 2019 Since the beginning of 2018, Guangzhou has begun to build wind and rain corridors, which seamlessly connect subway stations, bus stations and nearby residential communities and office buildings. After getting off the subway station, you can walk home along the colorful wind and rain corridor, avoiding the sun, wind and rain along the way. In Huang Tianji\’s eyes, this is also a \”qilou\”, which is the inner spirit of Lingnan people – \”to come up with innovative ways to not only do business but also facilitate everyone\’s life and meet people\’s needs.\”

Open and inclusive Guangzhou is both ancient and moderngeneration; both Lingnan and international. In those young new districts and new buildings, the Lingnan culture that has flowed for thousands of years has changed its appearance and is still alive. In the end, what remains in the city is not only the architecture, but also the living life, as well as the tradition and culture it carries.

In the \”Guangzhou City\’s Work Plan to Deepen Urban Renewal Work and Promote High-Quality Development\” issued in September 2020, the five principles of Guangzhou\’s urban transformation were clarified, namely \”a people\’s city for the people, high-quality development, ecological protection Prioritize the protection of history, inherit and protect historical culture, and comply with laws and regulations.” Its urban transformation goals, in addition to “every village has access to the subway,” also require “every village has sufficient academic qualifications and every village has masterworks,” inherit the historical context, and maintain peace and harmony. Continue the traditional pattern and style of the historical and cultural city.