Slow relocation harms protection

Dongcheng district cultural authorities have said that heritage protection projects are being held up because the project to relocate residents of historic Beijing courtyards is moving too slowly.

Heritage protection activists and local residents, meanwhile, contend that the inhabitants of the courtyards are as important as the cultural sites, and should not be moved away.

The remarks came in a press release from the Municipal Administration of Culture Heritage, following a meeting on Wednesday which discussed issues such as hutong preservation and how to stop the smuggling of cultural relics, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Thursday.

The cultural association of Dongcheng district said at the meeting that preservation work has been difficult, due to the slow relocation of residents. This was because lack of any regulations concerning their relocation, the association said.　

Since 2000 until now, around 10,000 residents and over 800 organizations have been moved out from the 139 cultural protected heritage sites they had formerly occupied, the Legal Mirror reported on Wednesday.

Zeng Yizhi, a local hutong preservation campaigner, said that many cultural heritage sites were turned into restaurants after the residents were relocated.

"Having a restaurant in a cultural heritage building is not good for its protection," she said.

"Moreover, many heritage sites were eventually demolished for renovation after the residents were moved out," said Zeng.

He Shuzhong, the founder of Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, told the Global Times that cultural heritage sites should be accessible to the public while still allowing the residents to dwell inside as they had always done.

"It's true that protecting the courtyards has not been effective, because multiple families still occupy them," he said.

"But who will give them enough money to move out?" He asked.

He noted that the idea of moving the current residents out of the courtyards for the matter of protection is too simple.

"The residents in these courtyards are part of the local culture as well," he said.

A local resident of a courtyard in the Beiheyan area is also opposed to moving families away from the area.　

"The point is we are still not allowed to stay here even if we want to fix the old houses ourselves," she said.

"We have the capability to maintain our own houses but the government just has not given us the chance," she noted.

Dongcheng district government plans to move 215,000 people out of the district within the next two decades, with the aim of controlling the rising population, the Beijing News reported in January 2011.

The Global Times tried to get in touch with the Administration of Cultural Heritage about this issue, but no response has been given.