From Russia with love : heritage-relevant maintenance for Li Huangpi Road of the former Russian concession of Hankow City, China

Abstract

In 1861, when Hankow was forced open to the world, the area around Li Huangpi Road (黎黄陂路) was divided into a 2.46 km2 area with five countries: Britain, Russia, France, Germany and Japan, and 12 foreign consulates, nearly 30 foreign financial institutions and more than 100 central banks were established in Hankow's Russian Concession area. The Hankow river bank became a prosperous city with distinctive colonial colors from a barren side, and was even known as the ‘Chicago of the East’. Li Huangpi Road, located in the Russian Concession, is a microcosm of this vicissitudes. Over time, the Concession area along the Yangtze River slowly replaced the old city of Hankow, and gradually became the center of Hankow, an important port for import and export trade, and the political center of the Kuomintang rule as well as the base for the secret activities of the Communist Party, and after liberation it remained the center of political activities in Wuhan and the central-south region of China, then after reform and opening up it remained the political and economic center of Wuhan. However, the number of demolitions and then reconstructions in the old city began to increase after the 1980s, reaching a peak in the 1990s. A large number of historical buildings in the concession area disappeared, and the integrity and authenticity of the Hankow Concession was greatly damaged. In this case there are still 17 historical buildings on both sides of Li Huangpi Road, which are the most complete of the existing Hankow Concession and retain the integrity and authenticity of the Concession. It was officially listed as the Li Huangpi Road Street Museum by Government of the Wuhan Jiang’an District in 2000. With the development of history, the function of the historical buildings on Li Huangpi Road has changed considerably in response to modern society and the needs of residents' use. The addition of a large number of businesses has made the street more dynamic, and at the same time has produced a clutter of advertisements and store signs. The addition of some new elements did not conform to the principles of architectural conservation. The government's restoration project lacked professionalism in the early days, which made some of the historic buildings' appearance change greatly and did not protect the authenticity and integrity of the buildings well. The focus of the dissertation is to formulate recommendations for the maintenance of historical architecture with the scope of Li Huangpi Road as a heritage site. The objective of the research is therefore to formulate a maintenance guide in the form of heritage-relevant recommendations that are practical, implementable, and actionable by community stakeholders. This is so that residents and users of a heritage site can easily participate in the protection of their own heritage properties in everyday life.