Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

Public sector 
 
The Beijing municipal government has long attempted to conserve the old imperial city that included 
Hutong areas. A municipal master plan for the city for 1991-2010 was amended in 1992 to include height control for 
buildings in the old city (Beijing Cultural heritage Bureau, 2001). It declared that 25 municipal-level heritage 
protection areas were to be preserved, amounting to 17 percent of the old city. Nineteen of these declared heritage 
protection areas include the Hutongs, among which a few gained increasing popularity among tourists, such as 
Liulichangjie (southwest of the Forbidden City Palace Museum), Xihuanmenjie (northwest of the Forbidden City) 
and Nanchizi, Beichizi, and Donghuamen Road area.
However, cultural and heritage buildings within the declared protection areas were not as well protected 
from demolition as one might expect given their designation. Private real estate developers were found to breach the 
heritage protection plan and the height control from time to time. This fact itself revealed the government 
ambiguous stance in the economic development and cultural heritage preservation. It reflected some local 

---