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August 2, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Better living conditions transform the city

By Xu Wenwen | August 2, 2016, Tuesday | Print Edition

WITH the G20 summit due to convene in Hangzhou on September 4, finishing touches are underway on a wide range of infrastructure projects, sprucing up the look of the city as it prepares to host guests from around the world.

Major public works include improvements to 16 expressways, 32 arterial roads and 32 waterways. Rundown neighborhoods have undergone renovation, new parking areas have been built and flowering plants line almost every main road.

Hangzhou has always been known as one of China’s most beautiful cities, and municipal authorities want to ensure that it stays that way. Although the renovation is part of a longstanding blueprint not directly related to hosting the G20, the event did accelerate work on some of the projects.

Many residents living in older, rundown areas of the city have been amazed by the facelifts in their communities.

Cui Wenqing, 79, a traditional medicine doctor who has lived in Sixinfang for about four decades, said six months of reconstruction in her residential area has turned it from “slum dog to high end.”

Sixinfang is a 103-year-old shikumen, or Shanghai-style housing area, that to be overrun with residents and unlicensed eateries. The area was characterized by a pall of smoke, a spider’s web of outdoor electrical wiring and piles of debris. Homes were small and lacked proper sanitation.

“We hung clothes outside only when eateries were closed,” one resident said. “Rats were common, and we didn’t dare use air conditioners because voltage was too low due to so many wires.”

Now, the tangle of wires is gone, the smoke has cleared and all the eateries have been evicted. The government helped some of them get proper licenses and new venues. Plants line the lanes of Sixinfang, along with crimson-color sunshades and vintage street lamps.

“Now I can invite my patients for consultations in my home,” said Cui.

Each home now has a new toilet and fully equipped kitchen. Area residents may choose to stay or to move to bigger apartments provided by the local government.

A similar Cinderella story has taken place at Lanjiawan, a lane at a foot of a hill where farmers in the 1950s built simple cottages. Over time, the homes decayed and the area turned into a slum. Migrant workers crowded into homes. The lane gradually became so narrow that fire trucks couldn’t enter if an emergency arose. Indeed, a bicycle could barely navigate some areas.

Two years ago, local authorities began massive reconstruction in the area. Old houses were torn down, replaced by white-and-black two- and three-story houses. The lane was widened and blacktopped. Unsafe wiring and piles of debris were removed. Greenery was cultivated.

Qi Jinrui, 84, said he is absolutely thrilled by the reconstruction. In what is now a “park-like” setting, he and his neighbors gather to drink tea and marvel at the way their daily lives have improved.

“Before these changes, we had lost interest in everything,” said Qi. “Our homes leaked in the rain and shook in the wind. Now a category-12 typhoon wouldn’t rattle my house.”

Also benefitting from rehabilitation work in Hangzhou is Spanish expat Louis Azcona, who lives in the Mantoushan community. Houses there were built in 1950s. There was no piped gas and the drainage system was in disrepair.

Azcona moved into a house in the community before renovation work began. He spent his own money fixing up the house. Soon after, government rehabilitation reached the area. Gas pipes were laid, sewage and rain drainage systems were fixed, the roadway was paved and all houses in the area were repainted and re-roofed.

“I am very lucky,” said Azcona. “I found the right place at the right time. The community looks cleaner, rainwater is effectively channeled and this area is scheduled to get a shopping mall and a Metro station in the future.”

The upgrading of roads has been a major part of the city’s renovation projects. Take Xihu Avenue, for example. It was resurfaced, drainage pipes were installed, and sidewalks were repaved and lined with nice streetlamps and flower boxes.

“It really looks nice,” said longtime resident Cao Zhizhong. “So many things that were long neglected have now been fixed. I am more proud than ever to be a Hangzhou resident.”

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