Crafting a town (2)

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By Sun Yuanqing (China Daily) 08:46, August 08, 2013

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The roads in Cicheng near Ningbo in Zhejiang province are paved with white stones and black pitch to indicate the old waterway and stone road respectively.Photos Provided to China Daily

Rich history

The town first came to public attention in the midst of a nationwide interest in ancient town revival more than 10 years ago. Back then, the prospects for the area were far from promising.

Planned and built in the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907), Cicheng took after the then capital city of Chang'an. It was home to many influential scholars, whose legacy to the town is numerous examples of ancestral architecture. Thirty-three of these buildings have national level or district level status.

The town was largely ignored when Ningbo started to develop its marine economy, moving the city center toward the coast.

During the Japanese occupancy in the late 1930s, the east gate and the city walls were torn down to allow the residents to evacuate quickly during air raids.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, modern buildings were constructed among the ancient courtyards. The waterways that ran along the stone-paved streets were filled to double the road capacity.

In the early 2000s, when other ancient towns like Lijiang and Zhouzhuang started grabbing national attention for their picturesque landscape, all Cicheng had was run-down houses, city walls that no longer existed and a history that lingered only in people's memories.

However, Yan considered these as gateways to restore Cicheng's glorious past.

"We didn't have much to start with," Yan says. "So we had to be extra careful with our choices."