Riding the wind of rebirth

"When did Professor Ruan begin researching Pingyao?" Zhou Zhi asked.

“That’s too early,” Professor Ruan said. “Back then, it was when I had just joined the Urban Planning Department of Tongji University. We had originally planned to go to North China for research during the summer vacation, but that year, I think it was 1963, there was a sudden flood in North China, so Lao Dong and I changed our destination to Jinzhong.”

"That year, we discovered Pingyao. We saw the well-preserved city gates, walls, gates, barbicans, and moat, as well as the Rishengchang Exchange Shop. At that time, the shop was covered with a thick layer of dust, as if time had stopped there," Professor Ruan said. "We only brought simple equipment. We used a tape measure to survey the city and drew a rough map. We also took some precious photos with a camera borrowed from the school. After returning, we wrote a report, which was published in the 'Compilation of Urban Construction Data' and the magazine 'Cultural Relics.' That was probably our first encounter with Pingyao."

“Actually, Pingyao didn’t evoke much of a feeling in me back then. There are actually several other ancient cities around Pingyao, and the ancient buildings in those cities, such as banks, are even more numerous and larger than those in Pingyao.” Ruan Yisan’s tone carried a hint of regret: “But all of those are gone now. Now, Pingyao is the only ancient city that has been completely preserved.”

"Huh?" This was the first time Zhou Zhi had heard of this. "Why didn't you protect it properly?"

"Because of development, for example, Jinzhong and Jiexiu were once very well-preserved ancient cities, but after the 1980s, a planning boom swept across the country, with old buildings being demolished and new ones being built everywhere. To develop industry and the economy, roads need to be planned, right? Industrial zones and commercial zones need to be planned, right? New residential areas need to be planned, right? Streets need to be widened, right?"

"In this situation, it's hard to imagine how the old city gate tower could still be preserved when the planning of a major city road conflicts with the city gate archway, right?"

This is indeed a big problem. Zhou Zhi nodded: "I have also investigated the ancient city of Huili. They demolished the South Gate and planned the land outside the original city gate, along with the South Gate, into a new urban area. Now only the area around the North Gate and the North Parade Ground still has old buildings. Such conflicts do occur when planning a county town. So how did Pingyao manage to preserve itself?"

“In fact, Pingyao once really wanted to develop,” Professor Ruan said. “The plan was actually completed as early as the 1970s. At that time, the idea was to develop Pingyao into a ‘small and medium-sized city with light textile industry and machinery industry as the main industries.’ To do this, the streets had to be widened and the city gates expanded, so that cars could at least run in the old city.”

"However, this plan was delayed due to the turmoil," Professor Ruan said with a smile. "When the plan was re-examined in the 1980s, Old Zhao from the Planning Department of the Shanxi Provincial Construction Commission, who was also from Tongji University, knew that we were leading a team to do planning in the neighboring Yuci, so he asked us to go to Pingyao to provide guidance."

“Demolition had already begun in Pingyao at that time. When we arrived, the west gate of the old city had been widened, and the main road at the west gate had been widened by about 200 meters. Some houses and shops had also been demolished,” Professor Ruan said. “Fortunately, it took four years to demolish so much, so the speed of demolition in Pingyao is quite slow. As for the reasons, it was due to insufficient funds, the inability to persuade the residents, and the fact that the widening did not have a significant effect on the economy, which led to great resistance.”

"Old Dong immediately went to the Provincial Construction Department and said that this would not work. He asked them to stop the demolition of the city as soon as possible and to give them a more appropriate new plan that could meet the requirements of all parties."

"Fortunately, the Shanxi Provincial Construction Department took our opinions seriously. After about two months of negotiation, the department finally agreed that Tongji University would conduct an on-site inspection and planning in Pingyao, and design a new plan. However, they couldn't afford it; they could only cover our food and lodging." "Old Dong said there was no problem, and that we would provide the plan free of charge. He then told me to hurry back to school to get reinforcements and to ask the department for an advance of 3,000 yuan for internship expenses, which he wanted me to use to get the team together."

"After I returned to school, my classmates heard about this and signed up enthusiastically. I wasn't worried about not being able to recruit anyone, so I mainly selected third-year students, as well as a few outstanding second-year students. They had to be hardworking, able to draw, ride a bike, take photos, and enlarge photos. Together with Lao Dong and me, we formed a team of twelve."

"At that time, we divided the surveying task into several parts, and the students took turns to do them in groups of two or three. We spent half a month surveying more than 70 provincial and county-level cultural relics within the county, as well as provincial-level cultural relics outside the city, including the city wall, Zhenguo Temple, Shuanglin Temple, and important historical sites such as residences and roads. One of the students was named Zhang Tingwei. He was good at drawing, so he was responsible for drawing the bird's-eye view of the entire ancient city."

"Back then, the photography industry in Pingyao was underdeveloped, and we couldn't even find a place to develop photos. So we set up a darkroom in the guesthouse, covered the doors and windows with black cloth, and bought an enlarger from Taiyuan to develop the photos," Professor Ruan said with a smile. "I joked with everyone at the time that when we told others how wonderful Pingyao was, hand-drawn pictures weren't enough; we needed photos as evidence. Actually, we were worried that the ancient city and several surrounding areas might be demolished, and these photos could serve as original data for the relics in the future."

Zhou Zhi sighed. Many ancient cities and historical sites disappeared without even leaving behind photos or sketches.

"After the surveying, Zhang Tingwei and I started to develop a plan. Before we started, we visited Professor Chen Congzhou, a senior professor in our department. He gave us eight suggestions, the last of which we later used to make a ten-character policy to persuade the local government: 'The old city should remain old to the end, and the new city should be completely new!'"

"Later we submitted the 'Overall Plan for the County Town.' The implementation of the plan was very simple: to open up a new town outside the old town—to make the old town on the west bank of the river and the new town on the east bank relatively independent, with the Huiji River separating the old and new towns and then connecting them with the Jiuyan Bridge."

"Worried that the local leaders might not be impressed, we drew a perspective view of the ancient city overnight, and then made a simple city model out of cardboard to show them. Everyone was very happy to see that while the old city has been preserved, a new city with modern buildings has appeared in Hedong."

"However, our proposal included protecting the ancient city wall, restoring it to its original state, and protecting the surrounding environment. This was not understood at the time."

“However, the city wall of Pingyao really deserves to be well protected,” Professor Ruan said. “The city wall was built during the Later Zhou Dynasty. It is six kilometers long and ten meters high. Every section has a watchtower for observation and flanking fire. There are 72 watchtowers and watchtowers on the watchtowers, and there are exactly 3,000 crenellations and battlements. It is obvious that this was designed based on the number of Confucius’s 72 disciples and 3,000 followers. How meaningful this is!”

"However, the county leaders were also under great pressure because they lacked funds," Professor Ruan said. "So, in order to protect and restore the city wall, and to demonstrate our confidence and determination in our plan, we took the blueprints and went to the capital overnight to seek support from Mr. Zheng Xiaoxie, a giant in urban planning and design, and Mr. Luo Zhewen, an expert in ancient architecture. Finally, through the efforts of many parties, we raised 80,000 yuan for the city wall repair and brought it back to Pingyao." (End of Chapter)