How to balance the high-paced transformation of a city with preserving its traditional cultural heritage is an age-old dilemma faced by urban planners nowadays. Jinjiang, a city located in the south of Fujian province, has discovered a unique means of improving the city’s appearance as well as functions without harming its 'cultural roots'.

The relocated Wudianshi, Jinjiang,Fujian Province [Photo by Chen Qiaolin for China Daily]

Refusing to only cram the city into impersonal high-rise buildings, government departments of Jinjiang have cooperated with each other and drawn up policies to protect a number of distinctive ancient buildings from being demolished.

As with Wudianshi, or "Five Shops District", comprising a series of ancestral halls, temples and performance stages from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), more than 6500 ancient buildings have been assessed and classified into restructuring projects conducted by the Jinjiang government.

The core concept of urbanization, as Liu Wenru, the mayor of Jinjiang, explained, can be summed up as: “Our goal is to create a sense of fashion for the youth, arouse nostalgia from the elders, exhibit the Minnan (Southern Fujian) style to non-locals and make it a home for returned Chinese.”

On the other hand, intangible cultural heritages, which are inherited from generation to generation, is another emphasis of the projects. Help is provided from all aspects from constructing the theaters and stages to cultivating descendants, whereupon, traditional forms of Min-Nan style art such as Gaojia Opera, NanYin music and puppet show are able to be revived.

“We are attempting not only to preserve the traditional buildings, but also keep their unique features and glamor,” said Chen Rongfa, the Party Chief of Jinjiang.