SCARRED CITY

A center for China’s coal industry, the decades of intensive mining hung heavily in the soot-filled air and on its landscape. Just as apparent was the destruction to the city’s old town by the people that governed it. 　

For most of its history, this Shanxi Province city, about 350 kilometers west of Beijing, was more imperial than industrial. From the fourth to sixth centuries, it was the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty before serving as the western capital of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) and Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). 　

In 1982, Datong was honored by the State Council as among the first 24 National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities, together with cities such as Beijing and Luoyang, both capitals.　

Looking from the old city wall of Datong, one notices a conspicuously dilapidated residential area stretching to the north of the city’s Confucius Temple and the Temple of Guan Yu. The area was full of ruined old courtyards and single-story cottages with collapsed roofs. Lu Laxi, 66, and his wife have lived there for 30 years. Few residents remain in the old town.　

A decade ago, it used to be a lively community. The couple lived in one courtyard with six families. “When night fell, neighbors loved to gather in the yard outside my house and play poker under the streetlight,” Lu said. He misses the old days when his neighbors were around. Five of the families moved from the area. Now, Lu only hears the occasional dog barking at night. 　

From 2008 to 2013, the city was led by controversial mayor Geng Yanbo. Nicknamed “Demolition Geng,” he oversaw a grand city reconstruction project that demolished en masse old streets and buildings and relocated tens of thousands of people. The population in the old city shrank from 100,000 to less than 30,000. 　

Geng’s project was not the only one to take a wrecking ball to Datong. In the past decades, the ancient city has suffered through rounds of demolition in the name of urban development and old city reconstruction. 　

Central authorities demanded that Datong fix the issue within three years. If the municipal government failed to restore the ancient town, the city would be taken off the official list of national historic and cultural cities. 　

Chen Ying, a section head of the City Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Datong, told NewsChina that controversy over the old city renewal project centers on the Palace of Prince Dai.　

Dubbed the “Little Forbidden City��� in local media, the Palace of Prince Dai was built in 1392 for Prince Zhu Gui, but was burned to the ground in 1644 during the last gasps of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). 　

The Palace of Prince Dai had been under reconstruction since 2010 as a priority program in Geng’s old city renewal project. 　

This involved mass relocations of residents. One told The Economic Observer in 2012: “At least three ancient streets were demolished just to make space for a new parking lot for the Palace of Prince Dai.”　

According to historical records, Datong’s old city had four main roads, eight streets and 72 lanes. More than one-third of the old streets and lanes were destroyed since 2010. 　

“Perhaps at the time the decision-makers believed there was a point to rebuilding this palace. The reality is that so many old dwellings were torn down and the new buildings are still not in use,” Chen said. 　

Facing criticism, the municipal government invited specialists from Beijing’s Tsinghua University to examine the city’s historical and cultural heritage preservation efforts. 　

The experts pointed out that over the past few years, the government failed to recognize the city’s true historical value. “They told us that Datong should never be defined as a city of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The city was the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and that was the very reason why it was on the first list of the National Famous Historical & Cultural Cities along with Beijing and Luo-yang,” Chen told NewsChina. 　

The local government was focused on rebuilding Ming and Qing dynasty structures, which was in effect undervaluing the city’s history. 　

In 2012, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued warnings to eight cities for failing to protect their historical and cultural heritage and demanded they make corrections. The warning issued to the five cities in 2019 explicitly threatened “being delisted.” 　

Liaocheng of Shandong Province was named in both warnings. Liaocheng launched a five-year, 3.8 billion yuan (US$559m) ancient city renewal project in 2009. The city tore down large swaths of ancient buildings and tore up nearly all of Liaocheng’s old streets and lanes, replacing them with replicas.　

Datong was spared with a three-year reprieve to make rectifications. “Datong is among the first top 24 National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities. This title is very important to us. It was the key starting point for Datong to transform from a coal mining city to a tourist and cultural city,” Chen said. 　

“That three-year rectification period was like getting a yellow card,” Chen said. “If we failed, a red card would be waiting for us.” 　

The southwest area of Datong is its most appealing historic district. It is where many of the city’s landmarks, like the Huayan Temple, the Catholic Diocese and Chunyang Palace, are or once were located. 　

Ma Bin grew up in the area and witnessed many ancient buildings vanish. 　

“When I was a kid, Xingguo Temple was my favorite place to play. Now it only exists in books,” Ma said. Built in 1916, Xingguo Temple was a large Buddhist temple in the south of the old city. In 1980, the local government tore it down to make room for modern buildings. 　

“Every 10 years Datong suffers serious destruction,” said Zhang Chengfu, an 83-year-old architect and scholar of the city’s residential courtyards. 　

In the 1950s, in order to improve traffic, the local government demolished the Haihui Hall of the Huayan Temple, the Bell Tower and the Four Archway Gates in the city’s center. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the city’s old South Gate and Wenchang Pavilion were torn down. In 1979, the South Gate, the city’s last gate, was demolished. 　

Though Datong had done serious damage to its historical heritage, the State Council still listed it among the first 24 National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities in 1983. 　

The most important reason, former professor of urban planning at Tongji University Ruan Yisan told NewsChina, was that the city’s ancient houses and streets were still intact in the 1980s. “Its historical value as an ancient capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty was just a secondary reason,” Ruan said. 　

“The honor had not raised awareness of the need to protect the city’s historic and cultural heritage. Instead, the wave of ‘constructive destruction’ became even fiercer after that,” Zhang Chengfu said. 　

The city wall of Datong was built in 1372, on top of the tamped clay walls from the Liao and Jin dynasties. At 7.34 kilometers long, the city wall enclosed the old city. 　

In the 1990s, about half the city wall was torn down. In 1998, the municipal government planned to replace all the traditional courtyards - mostly built in the Ming and Qing dynasties - with six-story apartment buildings. 　

Many other historical structures were destroyed afterwards. In a single project to redevelop Jiaochang Street and Dashizi Street in 1998, 7,154 houses were torn down and 4,259 families relocated. 　

That same year, Ma Bin’s courtyard home on Jiaochang Street was torn down. He moved to a newly built apartment.　

“The demolition was mainly done by State-backed enterprises. The old houses were not worth a lot at the time. People all thought that new apartments were way better than old courtyards and houses. So the demolition was done extremely quickly,” Ma told our reporter. 　

An Dajun is president of the Datong Old Town Protection and Restoration Research Association. In 1998, An was elected as the Director of the Standing Committee of Datong Municipal People’s Congress, the city’s legislative body, and was active in historical protection legislation. 　

An strongly opposed the local government’s old city transformation plan. He argued fiercely with the city leaders, determined to stop the project. “I pounded on the table and almost smashed my tea cup out of rage,” An said. 　

The former legislator’s persistence eventually forced the local government to suspend the project. But by then Datong’s old city had already changed beyond recognition. Rows of monotonous six-story apartments were built, noticeably in the west of the city. 　

“The phenomenon of ‘constructive destruction’ was prevalent in China in the 1980s and 1990s during the development of its cities and towns. Most people, including decision makers, lacked awareness of historical and cultural heritage protection. They blindly destroyed the old and built new for the sake of development and improving people’s livelihood. But they knew nothing about how to protect our history and culture properly and caused irreversible losses,” Ruan Yisan said. 　

Serving as the city’s mayor from 2008 to 2013, he earned the moniker “Demolition Geng” for his approach to city renewal. His idea was straightforward - he wanted to turn the heavily polluted industrial city into a cultural and tourism destination. 　

His solution was to demolish much of the city center and replace it with new replicas and then rebuild the old city walls to recreate the city’s ancient splendor.　

“Geng ordered historic streets and almost all the old residential houses dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties to be torn down. What he did was destroy real antiques and create fake ones,” Ruan told NewsChina.　

Under his tenure, the mayor destroyed more than 180,000 houses and relocated 40,000 of the old town’s 140,000 households. 　

“Over 100,000 people lived in the old town area. The decision-makers planned to reduce the population of the old town to between 30,000 and 50,000. But no one imagined the number would shrink to less than 30,000,” An Dajun told NewsChina, adding that the old city struggles to function normally with such a low population. 　

Suddenly and without explanation in 2013, Geng was transferred to Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi. Consequently, half-completed projects in Datong come to a grinding halt. He also left behind debts worth tens of billions of yuan. 　

The open criticism last year was a slap in the face for Datong’s government, and the threat of delisting forced officials to reflect on the urban planning methods it adopted. 　

Zhang Weng, former deputy director of the Datong Urban Planning Bureau, told NewsChina that conflicting interests had been a decades-long problem for the city’s urban planning policy.　

“The urban planning bureau was sandwiched between the wills of the municipal government and the municipal people’s congress - the former emphasized urban development while the latter placed more weight on old city protection. It was extremely difficult to present an urban development plan that satisfied everyone,” Zhang said. 　

To solve this problem, a new institution - the Datong Old Town Management Committee - was established in 2020, mainly as a mediator. The committee’s chief Wu Baozhu said that they will set up an investment group this year for old town preservation and to promote the development of the city’s cultural tourism sector. 　

“Datong was harshly criticized because the authorities had done a succession of major surgeries on the city. Starting now, we must take gradual and cautious steps to develop and protect the old city. Changes should be unintrusive and made step by step,” Chen Ying said.