Tongzhou District will renovate and protect its 236 cultural relics in the Grand Canal culture belt, represented by the Stupa of Dipankara, Tongyun Bridge and 19th century school buildings, according to district officials. The timeframe for the plan will be three years, which also includes discovering and protecting 33 intangible cultural heritages related to the canal.
Tongzhou's cultural relics
Located at the north end of the Grand Canal culture belt, Tongzhou boasts a long history as a passage way for river transport, for instance shipping building materials for the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Now, the district is home to a large number of historical sites including ports, bridges, gate dams, forts, barns and tombs, as well as unearthed cultural relics like royal timbers and slates with flower carvings. There are also dozens of cultural relics dotting the core area of Tongzhou's ancient city.
For the better protection of these cultural relics, Tongzhou this year conducted inspections lasting over two months and identified a total of 236 immovable relics.
These include two national cultural relics: the Grand Canal and the Tongzhou school buildings. The protection of the Grand Canal will focus on environmental improvement, while the protection of the school buildings originally built around the late 19th century will concentrate on daily maintenance and repair, as a few of them are still in use.
The Stupa of Dipankara has been recently renovated. Along with three temples on the stupa's southeast side, the four constitute an ancient building group, which will be reopened to the public at the end of this year. In addition, the Xihaizi Park, the Baotong Banking House, the Jing'an Temple and many other cultural relics in the neighborhood will all be protected and put into proper use in the future.
Renovation planning of Zhangjiawan Ancient Town
The main body of the Grand Canal lies in the Tongzhou District, and its Zhangjiawan Ancient Town has been a major water transportation hub since ancient times.
The south-side wall of the ancient city still remains, and the Zhangjiawan Ancient City will start restoring its walls, the Tongyun Bridge, and the eagle-standing platform next year. To its southeast, the ancient city of Huo County, with a history of over two thousand years, was a royal hunting retreat. The district also plans to start the construction of the Yanfangdian wetland soon to revitalize the area praised in historical records.
Many cultural relics in Tongzhou's ancient town have already been renovated, and a museum will be built on the site of the ancient Lu County to carry forward the cultural protection efforts.
Bringing history to life with cultural relics
Located to the east of Beidajie Road is the two-story Baotong Banking House, the earliest bank in Tongzhou. According to officials, the renovation of this building will retain its unique commercial and cultural flavors as much as possible, and a 24-hour bookstore will also be introduced.
The renovation is finished in Jing'an Temple, an ancient building dating back to the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234 A.D.). It is planned to be used as an exhibition hall. Some other cultural relics will also be put into proper use to serve urban and rural residents, like accommodating cultural activities for villagers and showcasing intangible cultural heritages and village history.
Meanwhile, Tongzhou District will also employ the resources offered by the canal to develop tourism and recreation industry. By signing a framework agreement and establishing tourism cooperation alliance, Tongzhou District of Beijing, Xianghe County of Hebei Province, and Wuqing District of Tianjin will jointly promote the construction of the canal tourism zone and the navigation of the whole north canal.
In addition, the district will work rapidly to advance the Taihu Performing Town, the Universal Studios, the Songzhuang Art Town, and many other landmark projects integrating culture, tourism, agriculture and science and technology elements.