Preserving China's Shikumen Architecture

A vanishing aesthetic

ANANTH KRISHNAN

Lilongs, Shanghai’s neighbourhoods with unique architecture that were built in the 19th century, were once a victim of China’s war on its own past during the Cultural Revolution. With enormous commercial pressure on real estate, the city’s finding ways, some controversial, to restore the few remaining heritage sites.

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Shikumen architecture combines Western and Chinese styles to create a unique aesthetic that cannot be found anywhere else in China. But few neighbourhoods remain today.

In the late 1990s, by when many of downtown Shanghai’s lilongs had been consumed by a wave of development, one very politically significant site came under threat — a site where the Communist Party held its first ever meeting way back in 1921. For once, the government did not turn a deaf ear to protests against the development. A Hong Kong-based developer, the Shui On Group, came up with a compromise to use the prime real estate: While the old shikumen houses would all be torn down, the developer agreed to reuse their tiles and replicate a 19th century lilong in the project instead of erecting yet another skyscraper in the heart of the city. The only difference would be that instead of local residents — who were all evicted — this new neighbourhood would house commercial establishments like Starbucks and boutique designer stores, to make the hugely expensive project commercially viable for the developer

After years of neglect, the Shanghai Government is now embarking on an ambitious Bund restoration project to help restore these forgotten buildings to their former glory. The Peace Hotel is also being renovated by the Government-owned Jinjiang hotel group. Many point to the success of Xintiandi as fundamentally changing the government’s perception of preservation, by creating a realisation that when done right, preservation too can bring in the money.

Read the full Article at The Hindu - India's online newspaper

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