Meet Mr Preservation: He Shuzhong on Saving China’s Cultural Heritage

From criticizing Shanghai museum staff as an intern, to leading the charge against the planned wholesale demolition of Beijing’s Gulou area, He Shuzhong has never been afraid of causing a stir. He founded the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP) as an NGO early this decade, and since then the CHP has grown into a national organization with thousands of members, working to empower communities across China.

On the eve of a CHP roundtable on preservation this weekend, theBeijinger.com spoke to He Shuzhong about his work and how Beijingers can become involved in the CHP.

China.org reported last week that the demolition of the Gulou area will start in June. Does the CHP have any new information on the project?
As we speak [the afternoon of May 19], there’s a meeting being held in the Gulou Subdistrict Office, and some of our people have attended. It’s about whether or not/how to demolish that area. This project is still under discussion. Whether they will, or how they will, demolish the Gulou neighborhood is still to be seen. There is not always a clear distinction between black and white in China. Our job is to try our best to reduce damage to this area.

Back in March a public meeting called by the CHP to discuss the Gulou development was forcibly cancelled by police. Do the CHP's activities often bring the organisation into conflict with the authorities?
Unfortunately, these kind of incidents happen regularly. However, I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. Our goal is not to cause conflicts but to push forward the process of raising the whole society’s awareness of protecting cultural heritage. The reality now is that almost every big-scale activity we hold brings some kind of “suggestion, criticism or even warning.” We then decide whether to proceed, stop or partially compromise based on particular situations.

The CHP describes itself as a “grassroots” organization. How do you interact and work with local communities?
Our mission is to help local communities protect their own cultural heritage – to help them protect their own cultural heritage by promoting, explaining, and publicizing the importance of cultural heritage and the way to protect it. We welcome locals to participate in every aspect of our work.

It's often said that while foreigners lament the destruction of Beijing’s hutongs, locals are only too happy to move into more modern accommodation. Do you find this attitude prevalent, and how does the CHP respond to such feelings in local communities?
I don’t think this attitude is prevalent – on the contrary, I find some foreigners were and are involved in destroying our hutong neighborhoods. For example, most of the design team of “the Egg” [National Center for the Performing Arts] were foreigners. As professional designers, they knew clearly that the dimensions and configuration of “the Egg” were not suitable for the center of Beijing. As for locals, I know they fight, strongly, to keep their homes and neighborhoods. However, they usually face tremendous pressures and difficulties, and in the end they lose hope and compromise. I’m not saying all foreigners are bad. It’s just our perspectives and ways of dealing with things are different.

How many volunteers does the CHP have across the country?
If former volunteers can be counted in, we have more than 10,000 that have worked for us. As of right now, I estimate there are about 2,000-3,000.

How can concerned non-Chinese Beijingers get involved with the CHP? Can non-Chinese speakers help out in any way?
Foreigners are always more than welcome to join us. In fact, over one-third of the total work load in our organization is assigned to foreigners. Financing, project design, artistic design, plans and documents drafting and fund-raising – foreigners are working in all aspects of our organization with their expertise. And we don’t differentiate between foreigners and Chinese members in our organization.

Can you tell us about any major successes the CHP has had in recent years?
There are a lot. By mobilizing local residences, organizations and media, we were able to stop or partially prevent North Xisi neighborhood, Liang Sicheng’s former residence, Lin Huiyin’s former residence and Dongsi being demolished. More importantly, during the whole process, we were able to raise locals', the media's and government officials’ awareness of protecting cultural heritage.

How did you first become interested in cultural protection issues?
When I was a college student, I interned at the Shanghai History Museum, and I saw some of the staff there didn’t really treasure the collections. So I wrote a small article in which I attacked this kind of misbehavior. One of my foreign professors later translated this article and had it published abroad. I got a lot of positive feedback, which encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.

What are the key issues facing preservation groups in Beijing? Do they differ from the key issues at a national level?
There are four difficulties that we met:
1) The government’s attitude toward NGOs.
2) The absence of respected laws and regulations. There are no clear rules out there to regulate NGOs’ operations, and we have to spend loads of time and energy to figure out what to do and what not to do.
3) Our organization’s management, including big-picture operating, standardization and finance.
4) Raising funds and financial independence.
These issues are basically the same as they are at a national level.

Unfortunately the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center’s roundtable on preservation this Sunday has SOLD OUT.

The CHP will have a fundraising event in July – stay tuned to the Beijinger blog for details.

For general information on the CHP’s activities visit their website.

You can read more about the CHP proposals for preserving the Gulou area here.