ecns [expanded by feedex.net]: Beijing authorities launch new renovation campaign

ecns [expanded by feedex.net]

ecns

Beijing authorities launch new renovation campaign
http://www.ecns.cn/2014/09-21/135425.shtml
Sep 21st 2014, 04:14





2014-09-21 13:14


Beijing's 'hutongs', or traditional lanes and courtyards, are some of the last remnants of the old capital. But they are now facing another round of renovation. Residents are divided on the need to carry out the work.


Renovating these centuries-old lanes linking traditional courtyards is always a controversial issue. Beijing authorities have once again launched a campaign that could affect many hutong residents.


This time, instead of the widely criticized demolition, they offer to relocate these residents from downtown to far bigger apartments in the suburbs of the city. The idea is to preserve the architecture.


60-year-old Zhou Fengqi was born and brought up in the hutongs. He says the best days of his life have been spent here.


"After years living together, the families of our neighbors are now like family to us. Every day after school, our children would go to our neighbors' home before they came to ours. We fear that as people leave, these hutongs will never be the real hutongs. Without this neighborhood, they will just be a collective of shabby houses," he said.


But the picture hasn't been this rosy for everyone. We visited the house of Guo Junjie. Like many others, his home is a ten-square-meter room shared by four people under the same roof.


The kitchen and the bathroom are crammed together to save space, and heating is not available in winter. Without a private toilet in the yard, Guo has to walk to the public restroom shared by the entire neighborhood, whether it is raining or cold.


"When we were young, there was plenty of space. But now it's becoming more and more crowded. The biggest problem with having such a high density of inhabitants is not just inconvenience, but the danger of fire, as the fire engine simply can't get through these narrow alleys," said Guo Junjie, a Hutong resident.


These courtyards used to be wide, private homes for the rich and powerful. After the founding of New China, they each were divided into several homes for the poor, with a big one maybe into ten to twenty. And then as the families expanded, they had to make new extensions in the courtyards. Generations later, residents are left with no more space to expand.


The burgeoning capital of Beijing has a population of over 20 million people, equivalent to that of the entire Australia. These "hutongs" are becoming increasingly and unbearably crowded for local residents. The city is struggling to find a balance between providing these people with more decent housing and preserving a culture and a community that once lost will never be found back.









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