Lijiang, China
One of China’s Last “Living” Ancient Towns
Authentically restored buildings in Lijiang.
GHF helped establish the public and privately funded, Lijiang Conservation Trust. The Trust provided scientific conservation and planning tools and a subsidy incentive program for the authentic restoration of historic ancient Naxi homes.
Over the course of this project, 174 traditional Naxi home exteriors were authentically restored and over 300 modern concrete buildings were removed, while four new “gateways” with integrated parks, community spaces, housing and commercial districts were developed to reduce congestion and the impacts of mass tourism. Historic Preservation Guidelines have also been produced for the local communities and builders, establishing a scientific planning and urban design process with new strict regulations on construction, building codes, signage, and architectural restoration. This resulted in new levels of community and stakeholder involvement, and enhanced protection and joint planning to manage all aspects of urban growth, conservation and future development in the Core and Protected Areas.
Historic preservation guidebooks for local communities and contractors were developed, the “Conservation and Restoration Manual of Traditional Houses in Lijiang,” to ensure continued local capacity. The guidebooks describe authentic restoration and preservation methods developed for use by local residents, contractors and commercial builders, vividly and graphically demonstrating conservation and restoration.
A protection plan was developed for the Danyan Old Town Core. The Protection Plan classifies and categorizes all buildings in the Old Town. The protection of buildings mainly focuses on proper renovation and rational improvements allowing controlled development while maintaining architectural integrity. While maintaining original shape and form, modern techniques are applied to consolidate and enable earthquake resistance. For the majority dwellings with high historic value, strict principles of renovation and improvement have been applied. Buildings not coordinating with the overall style of the old town have been demolished and new construction with compatible design and materials better coordinating with the overall style of the old town have been made. Over 300,000 square feet of modern buildings have been replaced.
