Beijing Hutong Conservation Plan - Tibet Heritage Fund

One of the survey areas, the Yandai street, is now rapidly evolving into a popular evening entertainment
district, with many recently-opened bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. From the historic building
conservation point of view, the shops exceed the height limit of the traditional tiled-and-gabled roofs
and fill up the street with their tables and parasols. At night, loud music and flashy lights are disturbing
the surrounding residential areas. Traffic pressure is increasing, with the surrounding alleyways
increasingly jammed. Given the natural attractiveness of the area (by the Hou Hai lake) such change is
unavoidable under a market economy. However, this development cannot be seen as a blueprint for
the future of Hutong areas, but merely as a special case. Transformation of all Hutong lanes into
entertainment districts would also lead to the demise of Beijing’s historic neighborhoods. To protect the
historic areas from excessive tourism and commercialisation, a healthy balance of 50% residential use
with the balance made up by administrative and commercial use should be the official aim of the
rehabilitation project. To create fake historic streets for tourists, such as in Beijing’s Liu Li Chang, may
be attractive for commercial reasons, but has nothing to do with the aims of historic preservation and
neighborhood rehabilitation, so this practice is also not recommended for the remaining Hutong areas.
Same point of view at Yandai street
in 2001(above) & 2003 (right)
Guang Fu Guan,
the taoism temple
is surrounded by
bars
Bar openning at night, loud music will distarb
residencial area
Over hight-limitation buildings
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