Siheyuan starts from a better life

Chapter 949 The Bund
“These old houses in our Magic City are villa-style residences built by famous architects from all over the world. They are expensive to build, have different styles, and have high artistic value. If they are to be transferred to individuals, they cannot be demolished but can only be maintained.” The leader of the Cultural Relics Protection Bureau, who had been silent until now, stood up and expressed his opinion after seeing that everyone had quieted down.

To be honest, most of the old houses like this in Shanghai are registered by them. They have been responsible for repairing most of them in recent years, but the funds are always limited. It would be a great pity if they were to be demolished by individuals.

This is just like the demolition of the city walls of Sijiu City before. These things have certain significance.

"And my suggestion is that the former residences of celebrities should not be included in this list. They should be placed under the jurisdiction of our government and be kept by the government. These buildings have special educational significance." The leader of the Cultural Relics Protection Bureau continued

"How to define whether it is the former residence of a celebrity?" Someone raised this question at this time.

"Yes! How to judge."

In fact, the classification of celebrity residences in later generations is quite vague. This is because the concept of celebrity residences is very abstract and broad. What we usually understand is that the places where famous people or prominent figures once lived or lived have been passed down and become celebrity residences.

However, compared with the public's simple understanding, there is no official recognition standard for "celebrity's former residences".

This involves two aspects. First, what kind of person can be identified as a celebrity; second, a celebrity may have multiple residences in his life, so which one is more suitable to be identified as the former residence?

Until Jiang Yan traveled through time, there was no official method to identify who was a celebrity and which residence was most worthy of protection.

The reason is that no cultural relic is a standardized product. Each cultural relic is different. Some may not be considered to have relatively high value now, but with the development of history, the understanding of certain cultural relics will become more objective and comprehensive, and their value may become prominent.

However, Shanghai has now recognized buildings such as the former residence of Soong Ching Ling, the former residence of Ba Jin, and the former residence of Cai Yuanpei as former residences of celebrities. These places are basically owned by the state, and such buildings cannot be traded.

Of course there are exceptions. Some buildings that are recognized as historical buildings and are privately owned can be traded after the cultural relics protection unit issues a relevant certificate allowing the transaction.

There is an old building called "Changde Apartment" located on Changde Road, where Eileen Chang once lived. It is an excellent historical building with clear property rights and belongs to later owners, so it can be traded.

In addition, there are some former residences where celebrities lived, and the property rights belong to their descendants. If there are many children in a family, there will be multiple owners of a house, and the transaction process will be quite complicated. Once one owner disagrees, the transaction will be difficult to proceed.

Of course, these are not within the scope of our current discussion.

"All buildings that can be traded will be reviewed by the Cultural Relics Protection Bureau, and then submitted to the superiors for re-examination. Only after the re-examination can they be traded." After thinking for a while, the superiors made the decision. "Of course, for those old houses with special significance, we can trade them in principle, but we must first explain to Comrade Xu Damao that these buildings cannot be demolished, and can only be repaired in order to maintain the appearance of the old houses. The second-in-command then spoke."

At the meeting, after discussions among all departments, they all took out all the existing old houses in their hands. The property rights of these old houses were basically in the hands of the government, so there was no pressure to replace them. As for those old houses with unclear property rights, they were basically not released.

After the superior leader saw the number of old villas counted by various departments, he couldn't help but start scolding.

"Look at what you've given us. Most of them are dangerous buildings, or they haven't been repaired for a long time. You're just letting others take advantage of you. I tell you, each department should give us at least two relatively good houses."

The leaders of various departments are also quite cunning. They know exactly how many good houses they have. Most of those they take out are dilapidated houses. If they are not renovated, they are basically uninhabitable. As for why they don't renovate them, to put it bluntly, they don't have the money. Using these houses for replacement is an absolute profit, but it would be embarrassing if these things were shown in public.

After hearing the superiors' announcement, many departments reluctantly took out some houses that were in good condition. However, after an overall estimate of the houses taken out by all departments, the gap is still quite large, and if the remaining 100 mu of land waiting for negotiation is added, the gap will be even larger.

"There are two more houses in the Bund, why not add them in as well?" After thinking for a while, the leader spoke directly. Everyone was shocked when they heard the leader's words.

The Bund (English: The Bund), located on the bank of the Huangpu River in the HP district in the center of Shanghai, is also known as the Outer Huangpu Beach. In 1844 (the th year of Emperor Daoguang’s reign in the Qing Dynasty), this area was designated as John Bull’s Concession, becoming a true portrayal of Shanghai’s foreign concessions. It is also the starting point for the old Shanghai Concession area and the entire Shanghai’s modern city.

In the place names of Shanghai, the upper reaches of a river are generally called "li" and the lower reaches of a river are called "wai". For example, today Shanghai people are accustomed to calling the Hanyang Road Bridge on Hongkou Port "lihongqiao", the Changzhi Road Bridge "zhonghongqiao", and the Daming Road Bridge "waihongqiao". The names are given according to the location of the rivers where the bridges are located.

Similarly, the first bridge where Suzhou Creek meets the Huangpu River is called "Waibaidu Bridge", and the bridges further in are also commonly known as "Libaidu Bridge" (now Zhapu Road Bridge) and Sanbaidu Bridge (now Sichuan Road Bridge). For example, if the county is used as the basis, the place close to the city is called "li" and the place far from the city is called "wai". The "Lixiangu Street" and "Waixiangu Street" in the current Nanshi District, "Licang Bridge" and "Waicang Bridge" are named after this.

The Huangpu River forms a sharp bend at the exit of Lujiabang when it enters Shanghai. Therefore, Shanghai people use Lujiabang as the boundary, and the upper reaches are called "Lihuangpu" and the lower reaches are called "Waihuangpu". The beach of Lihuangpu is called "Lihuangpu Beach", or "Litan" for short, and the beach of Waihuangpu is called "Waihuangpu Beach", or "Waitan" for short.

The Bund stretches from Yan'an East Road in the south to Waibaidu Bridge in the north. On the west side of this 1.5-kilometer-long Bund, there are 52 classical revival buildings of different styles. It is known as the Bund International Architecture Expo. It became the financial center and a concentration of foreign trade institutions in the old Shanghai. It is also a portrayal of capitalism in the old Shanghai. It has always been regarded as the landmark building of Shanghai and a symbol of the city's history.

Lujiazui in Pudong, across the river from the Bund, was developed into Shanghai with iconic buildings such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai Center Building, and Shanghai World Financial Center. It has become a symbol of my country's reform and opening up and a microcosm of Shanghai's modernization.

(End of this chapter)