THE Hangzhou government has embarked on an ambitious plan to rebuild the Imperial Palace of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and make it a major tourist attraction, reports Xu Wenwen. Nearly 800 years ago, there was a magnificent palace at the foot of Phoenix Hill in Hangzhou. It was an imperial palace of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) set among mountains and streams. But it was burned to the ground when the dynasty was overthrown.

Hangzhou plans to rebuild the site and make it "the country's most beautiful palace." The site will be named the Southern Song Dynasty Palace Ruins Park and open to the public in 2015.

The park will cover 14 square kilometers, almost all of Shangcheng District and cost billions of yuan.

The government says the Southern Song Dynasty represents the peak period of history and culture in Hangzhou.

"Though Lingyin Temple (in Hangzhou) receives more visitors each year than the terra-cotta warriors in Xi'an (capital city of Shaanxi Province), hundreds of heads of states go to Xi'an every year to see the warriors," says Wang Guoping, the city's former Party secretary, now the chairman of Hangzhou Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress. "The importance of monuments can be seen."

Due to the huge scale of the palace project, the Hangzhou Urban Planning Bureau authorized five units to compete in the bidding. Zhejiang Ancient Architecture Design and Research Institution won the bid while the Hangzhou Academy of Urban Planning and Design will participate in the project in a later phrase.

In the plan, the park's core, the Southern Song Dynasty Museum, will be situated above the old palace remains, which are 1 meter underground. The museum will thus protect the remains under the foot of Phoenix Hill.

The park's axis will be from Phoenix Hill to Zhongshan Road and will include the Royal Street of the Southern Song Dynasty, a newly found archaeological site that was once the commercial street of the former capital Lin'an (now Hangzhou).

Although the palace park project is huge, the government has even grander plans. It will develop an area of 25 square kilometers as an outer area to the palace park. This area will extend from the Tiesha River to West Lake and the Grand Canal.

Wang says the government is not interested in "mass demolitions" of homes and "mass construction" as they want to improve the living standards of residents while also protecting cultural relics.

According to the palace park's blueprint, the park will not have a gate or fence and the more than 100,000 people living within the park's boundaries will not be relocated. But their homes and surroundings will be renovated to look more "Southern Song" to create a large tourist attraction in Shangcheng District.

The Song Dynasty is divided into two distinct periods: the Northern Song (960?1127), and Southern Song (1127-1279). The Northern Song controlled most of north China. The Southern Song refers to the period after the Song lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty.

During this time, the Song royal court was forced to move to the south of the Yangtze River, and in 1138, Emperor Zhao Gou declared Lin'an the capital of his empire.

Zhao then began to expand the city on the former Wuyue Kingdom palace. At the same time, the outer part of the city was greatly reconstructed.

Although the Song Dynasty had lost control of the traditional birthplace of Chinese civilization along the Yellow River, the Song economy was not in ruins. The Southern Song empire still contained 60 percent of China's population and a majority of the most productive agricultural land.

Hangzhou functioned as the capital for more than 150 years, which greatly influenced the city's culture, economy and structure.

The palace, however, was demolished one year after the Song Dynasty was replaced by the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

In recent years, several archeological sites dating to the Southern Song Dynasty were discovered, including the well-known Royal Street.

Two years ago, the Hangzhou municipal government started to renovate Royal Street, which was just a narrow road with shops selling hardware and sundry goods before the face-lift.

Last October, more than 1 million people visited Royal Street during the National Day holiday.

With the success of that renovation project in mind, the government was encouraged to do more. The palace park is a great step in combining ancient history while improving the city's future attractions.

While the replica palace will be at the heart of the park, other dynastic remains will be included such as Octagonal Diagram Field Park, Yujin Park and the Imperial Ancestral Temple Park.

The blueprint recommends linking these remains as part of five tour routes. Each route will have a different theme - royal court, ancient etiquette, folk life, Buddhism and Guanware porcelain.

The park will not be limited to the period of the Southern Song Dynasty. It will also feature elements from the Wuyue Kingdom, as well as the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and modern times with a history trail.

The idea of a history trail has been borrowed from the Freedom Trail of Boston in the United States. The Freedom Trail is a 4-kilometer route that includes 16 significant historic sites in Boston. Along the way, people can learn about the hardships the founding fathers endured to gain independence from Great Britain.

The Zhejiang Ancient Architecture Design and Research Institution plans to link important historic landmarks into several pedestrian trails featuring themes such as ancient celebrities and water systems.

But since some sections of the palace and some archeological sites around it are below ground, showing these areas without damaging them presents a big challenge.

Zhejiang Ancient Architecture Design and Research Institution intends to adopt different methods to protect the underground sections.

For example, Deshou Palace was a small place for emperors to spend their remaining years after they abdicated. Today, the south part of this palace is under ground. Experts decided the best way to protect it would be to cover the section with a transparent enclosure.