2. CONSERVATION AND RENOVATION

CONSERVATION AND RENOVATION

1.Heritage Conservation Laws

Why did we want to conserve heritages and reusing old buildings? Because ‘the past is important.’ (Darlington, J. 2020) Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, believes that ‘Study the past if you would define the future.’ Because of the importance, history must be viewed critically. When history is counterfeit, losing its authenticity and truth, experience and lessons studied by it are meaningless, even worse. On the other hand, for modern architectures, reinforced concrete as a non-renewable material is the primary material used in those architecture activities. When the buildings are destroyed, new problems should be considered in dealing with the construction wastes.

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After 1931, laws on the conserving heritage based on the Athens Charter have been issued in various countries. Most governments agree on the rational use and protection of existing heritages, although each national law shows different priorities for the preservation and use of monuments.

China

In 1982, the Chinese government published the list of the first historical cities and relative laws. From the first law to now, China still improves law, which helps China protect historical buildings in cities and towns. In 2008, the Regulations on protecting historical famous towns and villages were published. Those regulations guide local governments to make policies that can suit different conditions.

Those regulations led to controversies that almost all city government’ officials showed great enthusiasm to exploit and reconstruct historical districts. Because developing historical shantytowns, to some extent, could improve the livelihood of inhabitants who live in shantytowns, develop local service industries, promote urban transformation, and protect historical heritages. In the first few years, the projects of historical district reconstruction were like a competition between cities blindly following headlong actions.

It cannot be denied that some projects have been remarkably successful, like Pingyao ancient city (refer Appendix). This characteristic town creates unique cultural competitiveness, which

improves local tourism industries and creates comprehensive urbanism. (Wang, Y. 2014) Since Pingyao ancient city was awarded as world cultural heritage, the city economy sustainable grown between 20 years. In 2019, the Pingyao scenic spot received 17.65 million tourists, earning 20.9 RMB billion annual tourism income. (平遥县2019年国民经济和社会发 展统计公报, 2019)

But more renovation projects failed. In China, some local governments do not have enough budget to finish the heritage renovation project. Those projects likely transfer to private companies for increasing fiscal revenue. As an enterprise, pursuing profit is the instinct. So shoddy fake heritages were built in many cities. For example, Datong city launched the ancient city reconstruction plan in 2008. The government demolished almost all heritages except for temples and drum towers. City walls, courtyards and landmark buildings were rebuilt at the same time. An ancient palace was rebuilt and did not maintain any heritage. Liaocheng city is similar to Datong city. Ancient buildings were razed. The government built archaistic walls, courtyards, offices and examination institutes.(Li, Deng and Ye, 2013)

Japan

After the second world war, Japan legislated the Ancient Capital Protection Act (1966), which plays a critical role in protecting historic buildings and landscapes. The Japanese government strictly controls the overdevelopment of historical districts, preserving historic buildings and relics. In Japan, cultural heritages were called cultural properties, which New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

Fig2.1 The data of traffic and tourist industry of Pingyao ancient city.

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illustrates that the Japanese government attaches great importance to protecting the cultural connotation and inheriting ethnic culture.

Europe

In 19 century, Paris urban renovation project led by Haussmann damaged the city’s ancient fabric, streets structure even landscape aesthetics,. He invented a ‘percée’ system that via separating heritage with its surroundings, and creating a visual relation between each heritages to represent the value of them.(Castex, J. et cl. 1997) Therefore, France instituted the first Commission Des Monuments Historiques containing ancient remains, medieval religious, and palace buildings. During this period, the concept of urban continuity has not yet been formed.

John Ruskin believed that city fabric means a city’s existence and makes a city into a heritage object which should be protected unconditionally. (Choay, F. 2001) But Gustavo Giovannoni, an Italian architect and engineer, invents the term ‘urban heritage’ that draws people’s attention to ‘minor architecture,’ urban heritage conservation was opened a new area. (Rodwell, D. 2007)

For legislation, Monuments and Historic Buildings Act that was published the by Netherlands in 1961 is the earliest one. Next year, Franch published the French Loi Malraux. Five years later, the UK and Italian published their relative laws that is Civic Amenities Act and Urban Planning Act, respectively.

The French Loi Malraux is a critical law representing that French urban heritage protection which has changed from protecting historical monuments to protecting the memory of ordinary citizens’ daily living space. In the following chapters, this law will be described in detail.

In 1975, the European Charter of the Architectural Heritage, also named the Declaration of Amsterdam was published, initially defining the term of ‘architectural heritage’. Then the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (The Granada Convention) was legislated by the European Council in March, 1985. In this issue, monuments, groups of buildings and sites were included in the term of ‘architectural heritage’. Some concept of the Granada Convention has been inherited by the Charter on the Built Vernacular Heritage that was published by ICOMOS in 1999. New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

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2.Development Trend Analysis of Conserving Heritages

Athens Charter

In the early 18th, the term ‘restoration’ was the mainstream of the new Conservation Movement. The impact of this term performs for to authenticity as any factory or steam railway did for the industrial revolution. In 1840, the world's first government agency dedicated to preserving historic buildings was set up in France. Then Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc first proposed that before restoring, the definite time and characters of each part of the building should be scientifically defined to make a restoration plan. In 1844, he proposed the principle of Restauration Stylistique. He believes that compared with preserving a construction, rebuilding it, repairing it, or restoring it is to re-instate the integrity of a condition that may never have existed in history. The consequence may be not an authentic old substance but an abstract ideal historical reality to satisfy the national demand. (Glendinning, M. 2013)

Notably, Restauration Stlistique is a restoration that fully emphasizes stylistic unity and artistic aesthetics. So a few scholars consider that, in the restoration process, the building returns to the same historical style neatly and uniformly, which to some extent eliminates the diversity and historical traces of the building itself. (Wang, Y. 2014)

In Franch, Viollet-Ie-Duc, a remarkable architect, systematically

developed the philosophy of restoration in 19 century. His work Dictionary defined present architectural aesthetics and the unified authenticity. In his career, many distinguished cathedrals were repaired by Viollet, like Notre-Dame. He believes that architects could have more ‘pictorial freedom’ when they are restoring secular constructions. His idea has illustrated in the restoring project of Carcassonne. New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

Carcassonne was an ancient complex that was consisted of the 13-14 century with two rings of fortifications, like Marienburg. The military function of the complex was abandoned in 1804 and filled with messy manual workshops. In 1853, Viollet was beginning to restore the Porte Narbonnaise. After he died, Boeswillwald tore down the infill houses and exhaustively rebuilt the ravaged ruin to an idealized medieval citadel that regards 13th-century architecture with fairytale pointed roofs. The project is not so much restoration as a grand operation of ‘isolement or degagement.’ (Glendinning, M. 2013) The project does not rebuild one construction but an entire old town.

Viollet-Ie-Duc’s concepts were recognized by Napoleon III who commissioned Viollet to take charge of a series of set-piece projects such as Pierrefonds’ castle. His works and architectural philosophy impacted many architects to follow in his footsteps. For example, his student, Eugene Millet, was commissioned by Napoleon III to restore St Germain en Laye to a museum of Celtic and Gallo-Roman antiquities. This work has the same architectural philosophy as Viollet-Ie-Duc’s works. Fig2.2 External view of the Carcassonne.

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Fig2.3 External view of a museum of Celtic and Gallo-Roman antiquities At the end of the 19th century, the Anti-Scrape movement, a new ethically charged formula of conservation, emerged in the private heritage culture of England. In this movement, discussing authenticity is meaningless because it depended on a sharp contrast between old and new, rather than specific qualities. The critic John Ruskin illustrates the architectural rhetoric of good versus evil, showing his rabid hatred of ‘restoration’. He believes that authenticity or truth rested in the material instead of the form. For the Ruskin movement, any restoration destroyed history and authenticity. He disagreed with the restoration theory of historical heritages that preserves all the historical information and traces of ancient buildings. He rejected any restoration activities for saving the life of historical heritages, only approved daily maintenance. (Glendinning, M. 2013)

Because the use of heritages is decided by owners, many heritages have been restored as much as possible. For example, the House built in the 1800s was one great ducal palace of England. Experiencing financial depression, the second duke sold the contents of the house because of his extravagant lifestyle. The palace became a private school that maintains the State Dining Room as the school dining room. The decorations, a part of furniture and sculptures came back. But for the statues of Roman gods, not one is original. (Darlington, J. 2020) ‘Clearly, these are not fakes...’ Darlington believes that it should be an excellent example response British neoclassical architecture.

Then Camillo Boito, Italy’s most significant theorist, cautiously changed the theories of the Ruskinian and Anti-Scrape to adapt to Italian

conditions, objecting to an uncritical adoption of either. He believes that the principle of ‘critical restoration’ (restaurocritico) (Glendinning, M. 2013) that recognizes the values and prejudices of contemporary society must be the basis of any interaction was the basis of conservation work.

The value of this philosophy was integrating historical heritage into the architectural and social reality of daily life and creating a hierarchic intervention to accommodate complicated conservation work. He endorsed the opinion of Ruskin and argued that buildings were reified literature of human achievement that could be read via a critical philological approach that distinguishes different layers of intervention. But an old method was abandoned, which was highlighting monuments via clearing vast spaces around them. His theory was called Restauro Filologico and written into the Carta italiano del restauro. This book indicated a principle that a distinctive restoration style was essential when restoring the heritages. (Glendinning, M. 2013)

Camillo Boito suggested respecting any changes and additions of buildings throughout history and emphasizing the authenticity of the existence of historical architectural forms. He argued that the principle of intervention proposed respecting the historical traces of the building and protecting the environment around the historical heritages instead of changing the realistic situation. His theory, Restauro Filologico, to a certain extent, was the theoretical and logical basis for the theory of historical heritage conservation. The concept of ‘age-value’ and series of heritage values systems proposed by Camillo Boito was agreed upon by peers. Fig2.4 External view of a private school came from the House. New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

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Fig2.5 The modle of the Ville Radieuse Gustavo Giovannoni, a planner and academic, developed the theory of Boito. He advocated scientific and study-based conservation of historic areas to protect not only grand but also humble buildings. He also advocated preserving all the historical information incorporated itself, including its surroundings, all modifications, and additions. He considered that the restoration of historic buildings should reflect the urban context between the city and objects. Based on the theories of Boito and Giovannoni, Italian scholars established a scientific and relatively perfect theoretical system of urban conservation. The system has objective evaluation criteria, scientific safeguard procedures and flexible classified regulation, so it becomes an example in the protection and restoration of heritage in Europe. The principle of authenticity also becomes the core principle of conservating heritages.

The Athens Charter was published in 1932 by CIAM. It was developed from Giovannoni’s paper Carta Italiana del restauro (1932, updating an 1883 original) and Paul Leo’s lecture.(Glendinning, M. 2013) The charter discussed the theme of restoration and authenticity and responded to an institutionalized Ruskinian standpoint that was aspected, echoing the Italian formula that ‘repair-only.’ The charter proposes respecting all periods’ architectural styles and suggests using modern technology and construction. It also points out that although restoration seeming is inevitable, the characteristic of any given period must be reserved to respect the historic and artistic work. The Charter of Athens emphasizes the term ‘authenticity’ that conserves all information of any given period.

The Hierarchy System of French Heritages

French colleagues classified the historical heritages into different classes. The core of this system is automatic state subsidy that monuments were able to have 50% allowance and 50–100% tax exemptions(Catoni, M. L. 2007). France’s ‘intensive’ designation system stimulated many counties congeneric systems, such as Danish, Norwegian and Swedish governments. For example, the Danish Ministry of Education in 1918 formulated ‘a highly selective listing programme’. This country published a Building Preservation Act, in 1996. In addition, France’s financial support system also stimulated Italy. The Ministry of Education Fine Arts Department published in 1978 stipulated ‘all entitled to substantial grant support.’ (Dale, A. and Stipe, R. E. 1986, M F Sorlin, 1968 and Catoni M L. 2007)

In1960’s, Lawrence Halprin proposed the theory of building re-use that results in extensive discussion. With the many practices, this theory rapidly developed. Then many countries published relevant essays, which encouraged scholars to argue the technical and finical issues of building re-use.

Inspiration from the original - Japanese efforts

( Nara ancient city and Nara Document)

Nara, the Japanese historical capital, was honored with Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara by the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. There are eight precious heritages, which are five Buddhist temples, one Shinto shrine, one Palace and one primeval forest. New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

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Fig2.6 The cover of the Ancient Capital Protection Act

Fig2.7 The cover of Asuka Act Especially the five Buddhist temples all were built in the early 8th century. For conserving the heritages, the Japanese enacted many acts. The Ancient Capital Protection Act (古都における歴史的風土の保存 に関する特別措置法) that published in 1966 is the most famous one. Then Asuka Act (明日香村における歴史的風土の保存及び生 活環境の整備等に関する特別措置法) that designed to rectify the city's infrastructure, was promulgated in 1980. In 2008, the Heritage City Construction Act (地域における歴史的風致の維持及び向上に 関する法律) was published. As of 2014, there are more than 40 cities were certified as heritage cities. Nara, as an excellent ancient city with original heritages, attracted many scholars to research and study.

In the research of Nara, (Boccardi, G. 2019) scholars believe that a wide gap existed in the approach of conserving cultural heritage in European and non-European. (UNESCO, 2017). Giovanni Boccardi (2019) points that the ‘continuity’ of culture and the ‘pristine natural places’ associated with beliefs and rituals were ignored by Eurocentric cultural heritage conservation.

Boccardi considers that the ‘authenticity’ of heritage property is difficult to define and vague to determine. It depends on complex subjective judgment instead of a simple definition. In this field, the construction and materials could be regarded as many independent objects which illustrate respective information to define the authenticity of cultural heritage. For determining the authenticity of heritages, the statement of the building component should be legible and accurate. The western history of heritage conservation

showed this problem. For example, Carcassonne where was thoroughly reconstructed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc lacks authenticity and frequently misleads visitors as an excellent medieval town with perfect preservation (Boccardi, G. 2019). New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

Chinese exploration - Still developing with exploration

William J.Murtagh, an American expert in the conservation movement, comments that the conservation movement has received more attention than ever before because it is becoming more sensitive in his work Keeping Time: the History and Theory of Preservation in America (Murtagh, W. J. 2005). But he criticized that the essential concept of heritage conservation is still widely misunderstood.

Similarly, in China, the scene reappears. Heritage conservation seems to have attracted unprecedented attention, which also did not receive widespread recognition of the concept and protection methods. In April 2017, China’s first English language academic journal in the field of built heritage. Establishing means that the Chinese academic circles clearly illustrated the term of ‘built heritage’. It reflected the emphasis of the academic on heritage conservation.

There are some practices did by architects. For example, MAD, China’s cutting-edge architectural design office, completed an arts center located in Zhuhai, a city in Guangdong province. Yansong Ma, the originator of MAD, tried a new method to conserve and renew a traditional village. He believes that: Fig2.8 The cover of the BUILT HERITAGE

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Architecture is closely linked to human behavior; it carries emotions and memories. Without ‘people’, there can be no continuation of culture and civilization. Architecture should not convey cultural values that lack human feelings or respect for history. Massive demolition and construction risks erasing historical traces, replacing them with vast squares, and buildings without roots or soul. We should focus our attention back on history, and the extension of our existing cultures. We must avoid the cultural fault lines, so that people, nature, the past, and the future can coexist in a harmonious world. (Stouhi, D. 2021)

The project respected local buildings, lifestyles, and inhabitants. To reflect the strong sense of emotion and memory, architects use an especial dome to maintain the original village instead of rebuilding the run-down buildings. The project refurbishment of the old buildings to react to the public space, which also weakened the sense of history lost much additional information. But, for some historic buildings, creating new functions is an effective means to react to the ruins.

Fig2.9 The rendering of arts center located in Zhuhai

3.The Ship of Theseus

This is an interesting philosophical story that may give scholars some inspiration. Plutarch (2008) recorded that:

The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.

For example, Lance Hosey (2018) raised the question that the core thought is the same as the ship of Theseus. Barcelona Pavilion is a modern building that was built in 1929 and dismantled in 1930. The government rebuilt the building with strict structure and details on the original site in 1986. Hosey asked that ‘ is it the same building?’

Juan Pablo Bonta (1979) responded this issue that if the building cannot be identified as the original ones because some physical structure have been replaced. ‘we should stop restoring architectural masterpieces-a patently absurd conclusion.’

Lost authenticity is hard to recover. If the building lost the original components, the new one merely might present that modern techniques New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

Fig2.10 Opposite page: Barcelona Pavilion, 1929 and 1986. Viewed from the northeast. The German tricolor flag flew over the 1929 pavilion; the flag of Barcelona flies over the current structure.

Fig2.11 Opposite page, North courtyard with George Kolbe sculpture, Alba (“Dawn”). The original cast was plaster; the current cast is bronze.

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can duplicate the same units, to a certain extent, original components having additional information lost. If contemporary artisans can restore the copy components with traditional materials and techniques inherited from ‘Master Craftsmen’, cultural traditions and heritage values, to a certain extent, can convey. (Glendinning, M. 2013)

Conclusion, although the two Barcelona pavilions have same physical artifacts, they illustrates different history. The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works points out that the essential target of conserving heritages is ‘to prolong the existence of cultural property.’ It should be emphasized that reconstruction may not certainly delegitimize and damage the authenticity of heritages, if the form, material, and meaning could be kept a clear link.

4.The Intimate Relationship between Heritage, Intangible Heritage and Authenticity

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Interactive Links between form, matter, origin and purpose

Many pieces of literature on heritage emphasize that heritages are animate, vibrant, numinous, and performative.(Byrne, D 2014, 3; Karlström 2005, and Gao, Q,2016) ‘Form, matter, origin and purpose’ are four fundamental ‘ causes ’ that decide the identity of any object. (Aristotle and Ackrill, J. L. 1987) Why do so many experts and scholars devote themselves to conserve heritages? It is not merely to maintain substantial existence but also to save the built environment and cultural heritage.

Each heritage has a unique value for aesthetics and history. For example, the Barcelona Pavilion built in 1929 illustrated the German society at that time. Then that one rebuilt in 1986 exhibited Spain’s history, ‘A museum of itself’, which was an introduction from Martin Filler (2016). Another example from China illustrates the special intimate relationship between the four ‘causes’. Dazu rock carvings (refer Appendix) are Buddhist heritages in Chongqing. (Chen, 2009)

From July 2008, Chinese experts decided to rescue the site. One issue put to experts is that the sculpture has repaired with other material in the Guangxu period. The repairing material masked the original that, Fig2.12 The image of Buddhist heritage in Baodingshan, Chongqing.

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Location Shanghai Chengdu Nanjin Kunming Beijing Ningbo Guangzhou Wuhan Qingdao Project Xintiandi Historic District Kuanzhai Xiangzi Historic District Minguo Period Street Civilization Historical District Houhai Historical and Tourism Street Lao Waitan Historical District Shamian Historical District Yongqing Historical District Zhongshan Road Historical District

Wuzhen Xishan Historical District

Nanjing Lao Dongmen Historical and Cultural Street Changzhou Qing'guo Historical and Cultural Street

Fig2.13 The table shows part of China heritage renovation project. exhibiting different stone engraving styles. The experts repaired Buddha sculpture with 3D printing technology and rebuilt the cladding material with traditional gold-plated skill restored Song Dynasty technique. The project was received by scholars and residents. The inhabitants believe that the Buddha sculpture should be dignified and untarnished. Repaired Buddist shrine still kept the original form and purpose and illustrated the link between heritage and its environment.

The same example shows in Darlington’s book (2020), the Great Pagoda in Suzhou illustrates Chinese unique comprehend for heritages, especially religious buildings, that ‘eternity inhabits their builder not the building. The Great Pagoda was restored at least 7 times, which is difficult to count it for an authentic antiquity. Suzhou residents deemed it to be the ‘glory’ of Suzhou.

On the other hand, when four fundamental ‘causes’ were arbitrarily changed, the authenticity will die out. There are some reports taht criticized this phenomenon, Chinese commercial development after the ‘Reform and opening up’, emerged unthinkable damage for heritages. ‘Constructive destruction’ (Wang, Y. 2014) means that to develop the city, extensive heritage and historical sites were demolished. The majority of 109 historic cities were experienced ‘constructive destruction’. Those heritage sites was disappeared, which does not have any means to discuss the authenticity.

Chinese other disastrous projects are rebuilding fake heritages. From the 1980s, the Beijing Liuli area decided to ‘demolish the heritage

sites and rebuild fake heritages’ (Wang, Y. 2014), many similar projects emerged all over China.There are a few projects that real maintain and repair the damaged heritages, with adequate research, original planning and traditional crafts. But the major fake heritage sites only built fake heritages without research and tradition due to driving to economic advantage. Customers who visit the fake heritages do not know it, but nobody cares about it. They are only there for shopping.

Nara, as an ancient in Japan, is a representative positive case. The Japanese government prohibits commercial development in heritage cities. This case indicates one method that protects the historical landscapes. It could learn how to balance protecting historical buildings and relics, and the commercial development and renovation, via Japanese heritage cities. In Nara, the tourists aer attracted by the allure of architecture that the Tang dynasty’s architectural style.( 奈良六大寺大 観刊行会編 and 奈良六大寺大観刊行会 , 1968)

In Nara, residents kept traditional conventions, living in Japanese architecture. During the festive time, the Japanese are dressed in conventional costumes, enjoying temper celebration. These traditional activities attract tourists from all over the world. Although the tourists only focus on heritage, the temples and traditional buildings are significant reasons attracting them. Heritage, its environment and the unique lifestyle affected by heritage make other potential links illustrating the authenticity. New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

Location Beijing Dazhalan HS Beijing Nanchizi Beijing Old District Fuzhou

SanfangQIxiang Xuzhou

Hubu Mountain Qunming Qingyun Street Anyang Yinshang City Taigu Ancient City

Huangshan Tangkou Street Shenyang Old City Yangzhou Ancient City Issues Except a few Buildings in the Conserving list, the mojority of Beijing quadrangles were demolished Only 22 of 181 beijing quadrangles were retained and only maintained 6000 m2 of 30000 m2 Heritages In 2002, less than 50 million m2 beijing quadrangles were conserved with only 1600 Hotongs. Three heritage sites were lost in ‘rebuilding project’. Guangyu Fang and Jibi Xiang were reconstracted by road. Only a few well-preserved buildings were retained, others all were demolished. Amost all historical style were demolished.

A road acrossed the Ancient City. The city pattern were demolised. The large area were demolished and rebuilt by fake old buildings. Precious folk garden and traditional landscape were demolished. All ancient city were demolished and built the tourists service

center In the end of last centure, the old city center were demolished and cannot feel any historical style. The original Ming & Qing Ancient city area (5.09 km2) only retained 1.76 km2 with choatic city culture.

Fig2.14 The table shows some issues happened in the process of renovation project.

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Fig 2.15 The Sifang street in Dayan ancient city, (photographed 1923 by Joseph Charles Francis Rock)

Fig 2.16 The Dashi bridge at the northeast corner of Sifang Street. (photographed 1980s)

Fig 2.17 The overview of Dayan ancient city (photographed 2002)

Fig 2.18 The wellmaintained tradational yard of ancient city (photographed 2014)

Fig 2.19 The image from Lijiang tourism ads (photographed 2020) 31

Potential Links between Heritage, Spirit and Authenticity

Dayan ancient city locating Lijiang, is the symbol of the heritage site in Yunnan Province (refer Appendix). The ancient city admirably preserved the original city pattern and physical spaces since it was honored with the historical and the cultural cities in 1987. When the Chinese experienced a period that the government was wild about destroying old buildings and rebuilding new ones, Lijiang conserved the ancient city and built a new city area. In 1997, Dayan city was listed in UNESCO World Heritage Site, which encourages itself to research a new schema suiting local culture and background. (Wang, Y. 2014) Dayan city maintained the original architectural style as an excellent condition. Due to overcommercialized tourism, the Dayan ancient city pattern and culture were confronted with some threats.

According to Wang’s literature research (2014), from 1990 to 2000, a commercial district was formed for tourists. Some shops along the ancient street have extensively transformed into retail stores, restaurants, and tearooms. At the end of the 1990s, the commercial facilities only occupied 8.38% ancient city area and 13.98% construction land. In 2008, 1350 stores were placed in 5970 meters street, which meant that all the stores were located along streets. In addition, the majority of proprietors of stores were outsiders that occupied more than 70%. But, when Wang researched Dayan city in 2014, the rate of stores opening to tourists increased to 84.5%, only 4.2% of stores served to local inhabitants. It is an important reason leading to the emigration of the aboriginal residents.

It is not a single example that happened in China. Xintiandi-for Tour&Shopping, Beijing Houhai, and many heritage sites were developed by real estate developers via the ‘conservation and protection’ method. This method conducts of emigrating of all aboriginal residents and ‘repairing old as before’ about the buildings. (Wang, 2014) Then the heritages, its environment and other physical objects are kept in the former address, but the ‘core’, as origin and purpose, of the heritage sites were disappeared.

The residents, companies even the government know these phenomena happened in the renovation projects but no thing can do. There are three main reasons frequently witnessed in different heritage sites.

1) With the lifestyle change, the traditional buildings and interior spaces were outdated, which is tough to use, transform and upgrade. On the other hand, aboriginal residents may not have the adequate budget and technologies to renewal their houses. After 2003, the government asked residents to repair their living buildings in an official document, which increased the life expenditure of residents. The origin of traditional buildings has been disappeared.

2) Insufficient budget is not only an issue for residents but local government. Developing heritage sites needs to appropriate a mount of fiscal revenue of the local government, so the government wants to explore the heritage with real estate companies. Then the buildings are transformed into stores along New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate

Fig2.20 Opposite page: Guangyue tower, in Liaocheng City in1957 and 2018. Viewed from the East street. The arch bridge is the part of ancient city wall. The street was extended and the stores were demolished.

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Fig2.21 The crowed Taikoo Li spuare where is the bigest shopping mall in Chengdu the streets. The purpose of the building has been changed.

3)Experiencing the total transformation, the traditional things, including lifestyle, local arts, artwork and cultural events, are disappeared. Residences are transformed into stores like snack bars, handicraft stores, even gastro pubs. Except for buildings that are ‘fake old,’ everything does not have differences. People cannot feel any original ‘causes’ from the new heritage sites.

‘... authenticity is not simply a case of physical likeness, but of people’s perception.’ (Darlington, J. 2020) Tourists, not to mention experts, do not think that this kind of Chinese transformed heritage site has any spirit inheritance with conventional that. One other scholar also shows a similar view that there must be some difference between the sense of space and the spirit of place. (Kopec, D, and Bliss, A. 2020). In 1992, Brown and Perkins illustrate these issues with another aspect. They point out that it has a high probability to result in heritage sites’ disappeared if inhabitants remove out from a place of residence, particularly in minority areas. It means that the original heritage sites and buildings lose their origin and purpose.

In addition, as Darlington (2020) points that due to the new technologies, the fakers have the ability to copy heritages just like the experts rebuilt Triumphal Arch. The new technologies are cheaper, more sophisticated and more detailed, which means only experts could distinguish the fake ones.

There is an interesting question that do customers really focus on the heritage buildings and the authenticity of heritage sites? To some extent, they only want to have one destination which is different from their usual environment. New Chanlleages - Conservation and Activate