Water town trying hard to change with times
Print Edition
FAN Meifang, 65, still remembers what Xinchang Ancient Town looked like in her childhood.
“The old streets were empty with few visitors and the town was tranquil,” she said.
But Xinchang, in the Pudong New Area, has become crowded since it was chosen as the setting for the movies “Lust, Caution” and “Ip Man.”
People flocked to the town, Fan said, and her old life changed.
“It is noisy, particularly at the weekend, and I feel annoyed when films are shot with lights shining through my windows at night,” she said.
“But if nobody comes, there will be fewer business,” she said.
Fan has worked for the past 50 years as a tailor on Hongxi Street, a skill she learned from her mother.
Xinchang with more than 1,300 years of history is one of the best preserved towns in the region.
It has about 100,000 square meters of ancient buildings — the earliest of which date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) — about 20 stone bridges and a 2km-long ancient street.
It has more than 90 historical buildings that are protected by the government, and the number of restaurants and shops are strictly limited. No new buildings have been built in the town.
More than 60 percent of the people who live in the town were born there. Most of them make a living by spinning cloth, tailoring, or as blacksmiths.
“We try to keep a balance on Xinchang’s development and the protection of its residents and its original flavor,” said Shao Yinping, a town official in charge of its protection and development.
The northern part of the town is designed to incorporate some basic functions like catering, while its central and southern part is home to artists and intangible cultural heritage craftsmen.
“People are the essence of the town, and every barber’s shop, tailor’s shop, blacksmith’s, and grocery store is part of its heritage,” he said.
Before any decisions on town planning are made, residents are consulted, he said.
A cultural experience season in Xinchang opened recently.
It features an intangible cultural heritage exhibition, markets and a peach blossom maze. There is a also salt exhibition displaying how Xinchang prospered from salt making since Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Chen Hua, a resident of Xinchang, has lived inside a house listed as an immovable historical relic of Pudong for over 50 years since he was 6. Another eight households share the same house.
“The house is well preserved by the town government, and people see our real lives when they step into the house with nothing changed,” Chen said.
The house used to be owned by a distinguished family surnamed Ye who did business in rice, flowers and grain more than 100 years ago.
Restaurants meeting certain criteria exist in certain areas, and intensive crackdowns on unlicensed eateries are conducted frequently, said Yu Ling, manager of the town’s development company.
“We want to control the number of eateries and shops,” she said.
Yu said officials are exploring the development path of Xinchang to prevent it from becoming too commercial and losing its own flavor and appeal as a water town.
“We don’t want too much promotion and exposure and a large number of visitors because the eco-system of the town is fragile, and we are still working on pollution-curbing facilities. If the river courses are impaired, the impact is irreversible,” she said.
Ruan Yisan, a Tongji University professor and director of China’s Ancient Architecture Research Center, said: “Many water towns are losing their original flavor during the process of development and are becoming commercial.”
For them, protection is aimed at developing tourism and making money, and people go there for sightseeing, shopping, and experiencing nongjiale (farmers’ houses), he said.
Some water towns, like Zhaojialou and Qibao, have built new properties to look like old ones to attract tourists, but they are just “fake antiques,” Ruan said.
“It is a regret that water towns have such semblances, which destroys the flavor of them because every water town is different in fact,” he said.
“An artistic rockery is not simply piling up stones.”
Ruan said there should be more regulations to protect water towns and their residents.
“There are regulations for the protection of water towns listed as China’s historical and cultural towns, but for less well-known towns, the rules are unclear,” he said.
“Protecting these water towns is not about making a profit from tourism, but maintaining a cultural legacy.”
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