Historical houses and buildings are being protected from being knocked down by a new scheme.

Xi'an, with more than 3,100 years of urban construction history and serving as capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history, has a large number of ancient buildings, ruins and relics.

It is known as one of four world-renowned civilized ancient capitals along with Cairo, Athens and Rome.

But rapid economic development in the past 20 years has seen some traditional residential houses in the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province removed to make way for modern buildings.

Special protection doorplates are now being placed on dozens of houses by Xi'an Municipal Government to ward off developers.

The 50 million yuan (US$6.16 million) scheme, which will also include a repairs programme, has been welcomed by residents.

An Qiangjun, whose houses are known as the An Jia Yard, said: "I used to worry that the yard would be removed with the rapid modern urban construction."

"With the doorplate hung on the gate of my yard by the local government on Friday, I can now better protect the heritage handed down from my ancestors."

Qiao Zheng, deputy mayor of Xi'an, said it would protect cultural heritage in the city.

The scheme will help to safeguard residential houses built in late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and early Republic of China (1911-1949).

Heritage experts have previously warned that the number of traditional houses in Xi'an urban areas had decreased sharply and needed more protection.

The local government launched an investigation in 2005 on the traditional properties that remained, and found 85 such houses and 23 other buildings should be protected with better and more effective ways, according to Zheng Yulin, director of Xi'an Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau.

The traditional buildings in need of urgent protection are all in downtown inside the ancient City Wall built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

"These buildings will never be removed without official approval during the urban construction," Zheng said.

The cultural heritage official told China Daily that the local government will put protection doorplates on all 108 traditional buildings over the coming year and that 34 houses needed to be repaired.

According to the deputy mayor, the local government has identified that about 170 traditional buildings in the city should eventually carry the protection orders.  

(China Daily January 10, 2006)