Time: 30th, Oct? Site: The Great Hall of Wuchang Government
Topic: Thoughts and Strategies on Revitalization of Historical and Cultural Districts in China and Abroad
Guided by:? Science and Technology Committee of MOHURD, CIUDSRC.
Hosted by:? The Party Committee of Wuchang District, The People’s Government of Wuchang, CDI (Shenzhen, China)
Sponsored by:? Wuhan Wuchang Cultural Tourism Development Co.Ltd
Supporting Media: CCTV,CNR,CNS,Construction News Council,CIUDSRC.com,Sina.com,Sohu.com,QQ.com,
Sofang.com,Urbanization magazine, Hubei Daily, Hubei TV,Changjiang News, Wuhan TV,etc.
On the morning of 30th, October,an urbanization seminar named ‘Strategies and Thoughts on the Revitalization of Historical and Cultural Districts in China and Abroad’was held in the great hall of Wuchang government. The event was a great success with the participation of Chinese and EU experts as well as the dynamic interactions between the panelists and the audience.
The CIUDSRC has invited the chief EU expert on Urbanization Mr Nicolai Peitersen; vice director of the CIUDSRC,vice president of the CAEP, council member of the CESC,Ms Youyun Zhang;Mr Jinkui Li, a senior researcher from the CDI(Shenzhen)，together with many other experts discussing about the strategies for the protection and development of the Historical and Cultural District of Tanhualin.
Mr Xiyun Kuang,the Chief director of the Wuhan Planning and Design Institute and officials from Wuchang District Committee, the Political Consultative Conference of Wuchang District, the People’s Government of Wuchang District have joined the panel discussion as well. Li Wang,secretary of Wuchang District Committee of Wuhan,said:"Through the format of speeches given by China-EU experts, panel discussion and interaction with audience, the belief of revitalize Tanhualin as a historical and cultural district with innovative management and humanity has been firmly strengthened."
Mr Yihong Cai,the general secretary of the CIUDSRC,together with Mr Qitong Xu has cosigned the strategic agreement of the Tanhualin Project.
Youyun Zhang: Vice director of CIUDSRC(China International Urbanization Development Strategy Research Committee)
Ms Youyun Zhang: I am very glad to be back home. I left Xiaodongmen 57 years ago, graduating from high school in Wuhan, leaving for Beijing to go to college and then have been working outside ever since, 57 years has passed by already, so my feeling to come back to hometown and see all the folks here is beyond words.
Now we are living in a fast-changing era,with undergoing the acceleration process of new-style urbanization as well as the profound social and economic revolution, thus we do face vital opportunities of development. For more than 10 years, Tanhualin has gone through tremendous changes with the support of the Wuchang District Committee, the People’s Government of Wuchang as well as the continuous effort from Tanhualin neighborhood committees and all the stakeholders.
As a Wuhan local,my understanding for Tanhualin is far from enough.Only until this year did I realize that the neighborhood where I spent more than 10 years of my youth time has such profound accumulation of social human culture ......
Road to Revitalization of the Historical and Cultural District of Tanhualin
Jinkui Li:Senior research fellow of China Development Institute
Vice director of CIUDSRC Strategic Research Committee
Lots of people came to Tanhualin and found it unique somehow.But why is it? What is the historical value of this neighborhood? In short, it records the history of the transformation of the Chinese nation. Here I would like to share how I see the three times of opening up in modern history.
The first time of opening up started from the Opium War in 1840 till the Revolution of 1911,during which time the western countries broke in and we went from passively opening up to actively take up the gauntlet, and then to all-around progress.It abolished the feudal monarchy and gave birth to the Republic of China,which opened up a new era of democratic republic.
The second time of opening up was since Mr Sun Yat-sen advocated alliance with Russia and the Communist Party till the Communist Party in China started to learn from Russia in all ......
Youyun Zhang:?The passionate applause from the audience is a great proof of the great speech made by Mr Jinkui Li ,thank you again for your input!
Even though I am a Wuhan local,today is the first time for me to hear such a comprehensive intruduction of the Chinese modern history from Mr Li and to discuss the value of Tanhualin,the importance of Wuchang and Wuhan from a historical angle,which I believe is inspiring to all of us.
Nicolai was so excited about what he saw in Tanhualin even though he only spent 2 hours here in June.Because he has seen the advantage and value of this district.Now we would like to welcome Mr Nicolai Peitersen to share his view on the historical and cultural districts that are undergoing urbanization and his thoughts about the revitalization of Tanhualin ......
Cultural Heritage as a driver of innovation and creativity
Nicolai Peitersen:Former Chief EU Expert of the EU China Urbanization Leadership Program(2013-2014)
This year, the Chinese version of my book Ethical Economy was published in August.In this book, I brought up a concept of socialized economy,which means we should use a new,ethical way to develop economy in a social environment.Thus I think we should also bring this idea to the revitalization of Tanhualin, to use the action of protecting cultural heritage as a driver of innovation and creativity.
There are three fundamental elements in a social economy system.First, who decides what is of most historical and cultural value? Second, who creates the future value? Third, what can we do to protect and create new values. From a macroeconomics point of view,all of above are very meaningful for the revitalization of Tanhualin ......
Youyun Zhang:This is a wonderful speech! He was fascinated by Tanhualin during a short term visit at the first time which also reflects its value.
There are too much temptation in today’s world, our choices represent our values.How do we properly understand and inherit our history and culture? We won’t go far on this road without the culture bases.
Just now Nicolai has mentioned some successful cases of revitalization of old districts in Europe and how we are in line with the international standards.Tanhualin is in Wuchang,in China, but we do need international vision for its development.China is a grand nation which should be occupied with a vision of great nation and modern consciousness.
Tanhualin carries our past history as well as our dream for the future.Tanhualin should not only be a model for the revitalization of historical and cultural districts in China but also an international recognizable one.Now our vision is to work towards this direction,adding international collaboration into the revitalization of Tanhualin ......
Development and Reform Commission of Wuchang: As we all know that the existence of historical and cultural district will bring tremendous social and economic value to a city,however the government will be mainly responsible for the investment of its revitalization.I would like to ask Professor Jinkui Li,are there any practical methods for government to support and control during this process? Any successful cases for reference?
Jinkui Li: The protection of a historical and cultural district must be involved with government participation.But the money from the government investment should be fairly,efficient and well spent.Meanwhile this investment should be visible to the public for it is cultural heritage belonging to the whole society after all.
One successful case I would like to talk about is the project named‘The project of activating historical buildings’,launched by Hong Kong Government , it successfully brought back the lives of many historical buildings and embodied them with new economic values through collaboration with civil society ......
The Education Bureau of Wuchang: We have talked a lot about the cultural function of the revitalization of Tanhualin,but how do we integrate the educational function into this project to make Tanhualin an education base for patriotism education as well as a place for social practice of the students?
Qitong Xu: I believe there are three ways for us to integrate educational function of Tanhualin.
Firstly,we should involve our students in the revitalization of Tanhualin by visiting and being educated about the historical and cultural background of this neighborhood so to feel proud and honored;Secondly,we should give an all-around history introduction to the local Wuchang students, helping them to understand who they are and where they come from through the window of Tanhualin;Thirdly,since Tanhualin is the cultural and spiritual essence of our city’s development,what is the background story of this history and who were the actual movers? We shall put all these elements into the education to our students ......
Wuchang Cultural and Tourism Corporation Limited: Nowadays, most cases of revitalization of historical and cultural districts in China can hardly reach the balance of capital,thus I would like to ask Mr Nicolai Peitersen to share some successful cases from European countries.
Nicolai Peitersen: I have been to many cities during my stay in China.I realize that most governments develop land by trade. Whenever a government wants to make profit out of certain land, they would sell it out to the real estate developers,by which the historical and cultural value of that area will be lost in this process.In Europe, the government will evaluate the real value of the land whenever they want to invest in revitalization of an old district,and then impose tax on the local investor.This way,the historical and cultural value of the neighborhood will be kept while developing its economy.
Another notion I would bring to this topic is the community enterprises.There are many enterprises of this kind in Denmark who are very interested in investing in the historical ......
Shuiguohu Neighborhood Committee: Today’s seminar has helped us to see the real value of Tanhualin, which is quite different from the current reality.How do we lead our local residents together with the government to revitalize this neighborhood is our first imperative.I would like to ask Mr Nicolai Peiter that what the vision for Tanhualin is ? What should we do to realize this vision?
Nicolai Peitersen: To build a co-vision for the revitalization of Tanhualin is of great importance.I strongly believe that all the stakeholders including the local residents should be involved in this revitalization,everyone should have a say in this matter.We should hear more voice internally rather than externally, jointly discussing the essence of Tanhualin with the experts and local residents,so to find out the real vision for Tanhualin.
To build the co-vision calls for the establishment of brand strategy.Therefore we should come to a consensus to foster a value that contributes to the future development to Tanhualin. At the same time it helps to attract more enterprises ......
CCTV: As a historical and cultural district,Tanhualin carries the memories of generations in Wuchang.How do we combine the human concern with the value of Tanhualin? What is the core value of the revitalization and why we are doing this?
Qitong Xu:If I were to think about your questions in a philosophical way,then two answers need to be given, one is what the other is why.
What is the revitalization of historical and cultural district? From my perspective, I suppose the historical and cultural district should be the place where lies the most inspiring,advancing culture and spirit.
Looking back to the history of Wuhan,we had a glorious time after the opening of trading ports in Hankou in 1860 to Zhangzhidong was in power in 1981 and till right before the 1911 revolution.Wuhan reached all-around development of economy,culture,international exchanges in 50 years’time.The revitalization we are talking about today is to regain ......?
Wuchang Bureau of Civil Affairs: Mr Li Jinkui has mentioned the innovative management to support the revitalization of Tanhualin in his speech.How do we integrate social construction and community governance into the revitalization? And how to integrate all stakeholders into the governance of the community?
Jinkui Li : I think you have seized the key point of the community governance of bringing in all stakeholders.At the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee,the general objective in the coming decades is decided to perfect the socialism with Chinese characteristics and to modernize the governance system, which makes governance a key word for the deepening reforms in the future.The reason for the past failed cases of revitalization of old districts is that they were pure government actions without consideration of civilians and other stakeholders involved. But what Tanhualin is doing today is a human-based revitalization which people have a right to choose, and local residents can realize self-governance rather than being governed by authorities ......
Changjiang News: The revitalization of historical and cultural district should be focused on both architectures and human being.There are two types of architectures, those belonging to cultural heritage category should definitely be protected but what about those with historical value but yet to be recorded as cultural heritage?There are two types of people, local residents and tourists.How do we arrange the local residents and show the human concern for the tourists at the same time? How do we handle the relationship between those two in a harmonious way?
Jinkui Li : Many other historical and cultural districts have excluded their local residents outside,thus to create another Disneyland for tourists.But the local residents of Tanhualin are still there, thus what the tourists witness there is an alive neighborhood. But whether will tourists affect the daily life of local residents? Are they able to provide enhanced value to the tourists? This is a great question, for many of the old districts in China are out of the possibility to even face this challenge.The difficulty Tanhualin is facing now should be considered as a tremendous treasure at the same time ......
Wuchang Bureau of Land planning: Both the people’s government of Wuchang and Wuhan City have paid close attention to the revitalization of Tanhualin by scaling a number of practical plans. We would like to invite Mr Kuang to talk about the possibility to implement these plans and his thoughts on the strategies of the revitalization.
Xiyun Kuang: The implementation of the revitalization plan of Tanhualin is both vital and luxurious.There are many differences between China and Europe,for example our legal systems are of great difference.Comparing to Europe, we are lack of the definition of human rights and property rights in our General Rules of the Civil Law, which caused huge difficulties.Thus it calls for more creativity in the revitalization under such difficult circumstance,for which we should pay more respect to the great efforts done by the Wuchang government.Actually the implementation of the revitalization of Tanhualin is on pause right now for it is a street after all. But why? Because the city construction and social development in our country have always been revolutionary, many of which are destroyed in this process ......
Li Wang:Revitalization of historical districts in Tanhualin is a beneficial exploration
Secretary of Wuchang District Committee of Wuhan
I am very happy to be here to listen to the pertinent opinions and suggestions made by people from home and abroad who care about the development of Wuchang district. These opinions and suggestions indicate that we should view our city from a higher, wider, and more open-minded perspective in the following steps. I constantly ponder the questions like " where should we head to? How can we move forward?" After listening to this seminar, I concluded three points and I would like to share with you.
First of all, the seminar encouraged me greatly. I want to quote Chairman Mao as saying that "a foreigner makes light of traveling afar to China" in the commemoration of Doctor Bethune. Likewise, Mr. Nicolai Petersen traveled from Europe to a thriving China, and today he is here with us in Wuchang. In order to focus more on the Sino-European city organization, he had made a premier observe and study in Tanhualin earlier ......
Youyun Zhang:
Let Tanhualin be a good example of historical districts protection
I am very excited to take part in the seminar held in my hometown Wuchang. In addition to the achievements we have made on the revival of Tanhualin historical and cultural district in the past years, today we meet a new historical moment and a new start for the coming hard work. Thanks to the national and international resources, we are extremely confident that we can carry out our revocation to a more profound level with the cooperative elements that we brought in from abroad.
Our committee of urbanization promises to promote and conduct this project with you. Personally speaking, I will undoubtedly do everything I can to carry it through to the end, as Tanhualin does not only belong to Wuchang or Wuhan, it belongs to China as well. It is a historical obligation that we must undertake.
For the past years, only a small number of successful cases of protecting and striving the historical and cultural district had appeared. Why can't Tanhualin be a successful case? Due to the fact that there is no existing mode in such aspect, it is our job to fish out practical solutions with our wisdom, courage, and knowledge ......
User3627337891: The Seminar organized by Wuchang District provided Tanhualin with a new platform which exerts a great influence on its future development, especially on its international connections. The seminar commenced with the entry point of city organization and construction and developed to the issue of social governance, which broadened the horizon of related departments. It is also a reference to the solving of certain problems.
Art Tanhualin: Professor Li has made a believable and practical analysis on Tanhualin based on years of study and practice. He inspired us by explaining the features and routes and dissecting the necessity and feasibility of protecting the district. The experts of urbanization also enlightened us with their unique perspective, clear thoughts and passionate delivery.
nhxh_82385: good job!
Wuchang Xu: I have participated in several seminars, but I find this one fresh and new. The theoretical presentation of the foreign specialists, practical analysis of the local experts, and the interaction between the ......
