History left to rot

By Chang Meng Source:Global Times Published: 2013-4-10 23:58:01

This photo taken on February 13 shows a wood carving above the ancestral hall of the local Hu family in Huangshan, Anhui Province. Photo: CFP
This photo taken on February 13 shows a wood carving above the ancestral hall of the local Hu family in Huangshan, Anhui Province. Photo: CFP

 

"I won't break the law, nor do anything that would harm our nation."

Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan's took to Weibo on Tuesday to defend his reputation after a controversy had erupted over his donation of four ancient Chinese houses to the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

Chan bought 10 Huizhou-style ancient houses, which originate from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, 20 years ago and had them disassembled and put into storage. In 2011, after Chan had spent years grappling with the Hong Kong bureaucracy, the Singapore government offered them a place at SUTD and Chan decided to donate four from his collection "to preserve and demonstrate the essence of Chinese architecture."

The Huizhou style is a major genre of ancient Chinese architecture and examples are particularly concentrated around the Huizhou area, which consists of Huangshan and Xuancheng in Anhui Province, and Wuyuan county in Jiangxi Province. Houses, ancestral halls and memorial archways decorated with delicate sculptures of wood, brick and stone blend seamlessly into the surrounding geographic environment. It is this link with the local environment that has experts worried over the implications of sending them overseas.

But with thousands torn down or broken into parts for sale, with some simply being left to rot, protecting them is easier said than done.

A difficult decision

Chan's supporters believe it is better to let foreign institutions preserve the relics and promote Chinese culture, rather than leave them to rot, however experts have stressed the importance of links to the local environment.

"I believe that the SUTD's offer was sincere, but sending them overseas would sever the cultural, historical and familial link to its home environment, which nurtured the architecture. That's merely preservation, not protection," Fang Lishan, a renowned expert on Huizhou studies, told the Global Times.

Fang was among the many pushing for Chan could bring the structures home, including the city government of Huangshan. "We are offering land, funds and the best technology to restore the houses if Mr Chan changes his mind," announced Hu Rongsun, director of the city's cultural relics bureau Monday.

The legality of Chan's move has been questioned, but an anonymous official with the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics (APBCR) told the Global Times that the provincial regulation on ancient homes came out in 1997 and was amended in 2004, after which the trade of ancient houses was put under strict supervision. "He made the purchase 20 years ago, so it's his own personal possession," he said.

Flawed protection

According to data provided by the APBCR, there are 12,097 provincial-level cultural relics categorized as ancient architecture built before 1911. Among them, 7,889 are registered in Huangshan and Xuancheng.

A special project in Huangshan to protect 1,065 ancient houses in 101 villages was launched in 2009 and will be concluded this year, at a cost of 4.5 billion yuan ($726 million) in repair and administrative costs.

However, most of the ancient houses are not cultural relics but "protected property in principle," and are private properties that owners can dispose of at their own will.

"House trading is  common among villagers when they want to move into new houses. It's hard to regulate as cultural relic protection policies contradict property laws on such occasions," said Fang. 

Money is another problem. "If the government took full responsibility it would become a financial black hole, especially given the fact that it's still an underdeveloped area," said the APBCR official.

Private funding has been the solution. The public is invited to "adopt, rent or purchase" ancient homes in Huangshan to repair and use them, but the original property rights remain unchanged. The scheme has received a lukewarm response.

"There's not enough profit," said Yao Shunlai, a Huizhou-style architect. "It isn't what people thought at first. They can't buy ancient houses and sell them later with appreciation. Business, purely for philanthropic aims, is not yet an attractive pursuit."

Zha Limin, president of the Jingxian county ancient architecture protection association, told the Global Times that his organization has been devoted to the undertaking since 1994 through donations they had raised and tourism income.

"There are other private organizations doing volunteer protection work, but there are too many relics. We need more public support," Zha said.

Hu, on the other hand, said, "If foreign agencies can treat our architecture well, we might have to accept the reality."

Making a buck

The Chan controversy is far from unique. Yin Yu Tang, a Qing Dynasty house in   Xiuning county, was reassembled piece-by-piece at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts in 1997. Many ancient houses had similar fates due to loose regulations in the past. Many were bought and moved to big cities as private residences or for commercial use. "We probably lost a whole village in this way," said Fang.

However, governments have made similar moves. The Huangshan city government put together 13 "concentrated protection zones" that reassembled several old houses together as tourism sites.

"This is the least desirable method of protection and I'm advising the city not to continue," said Fang.

Somewhat ironically, transforming ancient houses into stores or even bars has been the most effective method of protection. The ancient villages of Hongcun and Xidi in Huangshan were acknowledged as world cultural heritage sites in 2000 and became hot tourism destinations, when ancient houses became inns, bars, stores and restaurants.

"No new structures or modern renovation is allowed in the protection zone, and any damaging actions toward the houses are forbidden. We won't receive the yearly tourism bonus, which we fought to get, if we break the rules," said Zhu Dexing, 64, a local resident and inn owner in Hongcun.

"Huizhou-style houses can't be left empty or they will rot within three years and become a total waste of money. Commercialization is a way of adapting to modern society, as we haven't found better ways yet to attract people to protect them," said Chen Ansheng, an expert in Huizhou-style architecture.



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