Beijing reinvents its architectural past
Print Edition
XIAO Yuchen, 25, an illustrator from Taiwan, is pleasantly surprised to find that Dashilan, a popular Beijing tourist area, has undergone changes.
Not having the typical crowded tourists, souvenir stores and brightly decorated buildings, the capital’s winding back area has been renovated in a traditional Beijing hutong (small alley) style.
The quiet hutong is paved with gray bricks, with art studios scattered around old courtyards.
Xiao chose Yangmeizhuxie street in Dashilan to set up her design studio. “Unlike other traditional hutongs, there are no tourist crowds or bustling commercial activity. Art design studios neighbor old Siheyuan courtyards, which makes it comfortable working and living here,” Xiao says.
The less than 500-meter-long Yangmeizhuxie street has just been updated as part of an old city renovation plan. More than 710 of 1,711 families moved out of the street, making space for cultural innovation companies, according to the plan.
The new firms must be culture and art related, and their studio style must fit with the surrounding architecture.
“Dashilan is improving its cultural innovation environment to attract more art resources to help revitalize local art,” says Jia Rong, director of the update plan.
Many local residents who were born here or lived here for decades chose to stay in Dashilan when the plan started.
Wang Xiuren, 72, was born on Yangmeizhuxie street, and her ancestors have lived here for 400 years.After the update started, Wang redesigned her two-story shop selling medical magazines and books.
On the ground floor, she opened a cafe providing food to nearby residents. On the second floor, she built a family museum displaying items related to the drug store that her family ran for centuries.
The plan is part of Beijing’s moves to clear the capital of non-essential businesses to upgrade through cultural innovation.
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