Riding the wind of rebirth

“Professor Ruan,” Zhou Zhi thought for a moment, “if we need to make a documentary about the ancient city of Pingyao, not a real documentary, but the kind used to apply for World Heritage status with UNESCO, and to fully showcase the characteristics of Pingyao’s historical and cultural heritage, what do you think should be the most urgent task?”

“Well, I think the first thing we should do is relocate some of the institutions within the ancient building complex to the new urban area.” Professor Ruan had clearly thought about this issue and quickly gave his answer: “This is actually quite easy to solve, because most of these institutions are government agencies, public institutions, or state-owned enterprises.”

"However, there are quite a lot of them. There are about a dozen schools, more than a dozen medical units, more than thirty government agencies, a dozen or so enterprises, and about a hundred in total. It will definitely require a period of planning."

"Another problem is the old town's chronic issues—the sewers, electricity, oh right, and TV antennas."

"The dredging and renovation of the sewers is very important because the sewers on both sides of many roads in the old city have problems. Not only will the blockages cause dampness in the houses, but they may also cause road subsidence, geological hazards such as open spaces in buildings, etc., which require comprehensive treatment."

“Corresponding protective measures also need to be taken for the road surface. Before repairing the pipeline, the road surface stones need to be removed, numbered, listed, and stored. The road surface will only be restored after the renovation is completed.”

"The electricity situation is even more outrageous. The ancient city is currently powered by utility poles, which are so numerous that they are like a spider web. They need to be replaced with underground cables to avoid affecting the appearance of the ancient city."

"Another problem is the TV antennas in each household. Every household has a TV antenna that goes to the roof, and that's a mess too."

Zhou Zhi began to understand the difficulties faced by the local area. Even Jiachuan had started to build closed-circuit television, and it was necessary to install separate television antennas on the roof to receive signals from the wireless television tower. These antennas had been dismantled in large numbers in recent years, but Pingyao had not yet made progress.

"Another type is illegal construction inside ancient buildings, especially illegal construction inside national protected sites and other immovable cultural relics. These need to be demolished. This also involves the resettlement of people and the repair of damaged cultural relics, which is also a very troublesome matter."

"That's about it for now," Professor Ruan said. "Once these issues are resolved, the ancient city of Pingyao will be basically ready to visit. The rest can be restored gradually..."

"The most crucial thing, of course, is the transformation of mindset," Professor Ruan concluded. "A World Heritage Site, as the name suggests, involves a lot of dealings with foreign countries, and a lot of materials need to be translated into English, right? Expecting the local government of Pingyao to handle these things is... well, I'm afraid we can't count on them for the time being."

Zhou Zhi couldn't help but recall the incident in Jiachuan where the director of the investment promotion bureau had mistaken an English love letter written by a classmate to his daughter for an important letter and asked for a translator. It must be said that Professor Ruan's considerations were indeed real problems.

However, these problems do not seem to be completely unsolvable. Zhou Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Among these things, the least troublesome should be the transformation of cable TV, right?"

“Yes, this only requires a coaxial cable and an adapter. The cost per household is about fifty yuan, but there will be a monthly fee of ten yuan for each user.” Professor Ruan was worried that Zhou Zhi might mistakenly think the fee was too low, so he explained, “Jinzhong is a small county town, so it can’t be compared to this place. The fees there are around this level.”

"If we calculate based on this standard, with 60,000 people in the old city, let's say 20,000 households. Would one million be enough to solve the initial cable TV installation problem?" "It won't cost that much," Professor Ruan said. "If it's a unified installation, or if the county issues a document, it should be much cheaper."

"Then I have an idea."

"What are your thoughts?" Professor Ruan no longer dared to underestimate the young man in front of him who looked like a college student, but whose eyes and expression were quite mature.

"If we agree to raise funds for the local government to solve the problem of installing closed-circuit television in the old city, just like we did to protect the city walls, could we exchange that for the active cooperation of the local authorities? We can first select the most representative street in the old city to complete the preliminary experimental renovation, including water supply, electricity, gas, heating, sewage treatment, road surface, and the demolition, repair, and improvement of houses on both sides of the street?"

"With such a street, we can use it as material to film a documentary, as a model to encourage the local government to implement positive renovations, and as a demonstration case of renovation plans. We can submit all of these as part of the application materials for World Heritage status, showing that we are not just paying lip service to the importance of it, but that we already have a mature renovation plan. This will allow the protection plan for Pingyao Ancient City to give everyone who cares about it a very direct impression."

"That's great! Of course it's great!" Professor Ruan exclaimed excitedly. "Then it has to be South Street. This street is the core area where the commercial banks originated. It was built as early as the third year of the Hongwu reign. The street is about 400 meters long and has preserved 78 shops from the Ming and Qing dynasties. These include eight major commercial systems such as banks, money shops, and pawnshops. Among them are financial institutions like Rishengchang Bank and Xietongqing Money Shop; pawnshops like Yonglong Pawnshop; time-honored brands like Guangyuyuan Pharmacy; Guanyun Catering; Yunjincheng Silk Shop; Tongxinggong Escort Agency; Changshengyuan Tobacco and Alcohol Shop; and Xiangtailong Goods Store, which sells daily necessities."

"Will it be difficult to demolish and repair these buildings?" Zhou Zhi asked.

“These shops are all quite large, and many are used as government offices, such as police stations and tax offices,” Professor Ruan said. “Demolition is actually the easiest part, but there are many traces of modern use, so restoration will be a bit more troublesome.”

"From Yingxun Gate in the south to the city center tower in the ancient city, the street is about five meters wide. The shops on both sides continue the ancient 'front shop and back workshop' spatial layout. The main structure is brick and wood, with blue bricks and gray tiles, sloping roofs and wooden lattice windows as basic elements. The walls are 60 to 80 centimeters thick and adopt the 'one incense stick' style gable roof. The existing shop frontages are three to six meters wide, and the eaves height has been preserved in the original style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as well as the typical three-courtyard style of shops."

Zhou Zhi felt very familiar with this structure. Then he thought about it and realized that he had two courtyard houses in the capital that were ancient buildings that had been moved from Jinzhong. No wonder it felt so familiar.

It's possible that they moved it from one of the places Professor Ruan mentioned earlier, a place that was once comparable to Pingyao but had a large number of ancient buildings demolished due to efforts to build a new city.

Thinking about it this way, Zhou Zhi's desire to do his part in protecting the ancient city became even stronger. "However, where will the money come from?" Professor Ruan finally asked the core question: "Even if installing closed-circuit television only costs a few hundred thousand, it's still not a small amount."

"This will require Xinyi's help." Zhou Zhi smiled at Zhang Xinyi. "We'll need Professor Ruan to hand over the preliminary protection plan to her, so she can contact the Yu Tang Foundation. You've already developed such a mature plan; I estimate the funding application should go smoothly, and there might even be some pleasant surprises." (End of Chapter)