China Industrial Economy News

Short-lived Houses

August 9, 2010

At China Real Estate and Finance Forum in early August, Chen Huai, Director of the Policy Research Office of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said, during the next 20 years, half of China's houses would need to be demolished and rebuilt.

For various reasons, in China, average duration of houses is 30 years. In some countries, century-old houses are common. They are not only solid but also become naturally integrated into the rest of the whole city.

To extend duration of buildings is also important to the overall urban planning, because sometimes the layout of apartments, communities and public facilities no long matches pace of urban development. Profit-driven real estate developers are reluctant to pay attention to the quality of buildings and the long-term planning of a city.

China is now at a key point of urbanization. If buildings are repeatedly built and pulled down, how many of today's new buildings are to be turned into rubbish, wasting resources and causing huge carbon emissions?

China Youth Daily

Heritage Windfall

August 6, 2010

Soon after the UNESCO included China's Danxia landform in the World Heritage List, the Management Committee of Danxia Mountain in Guangdong Province claimed to raise the admission price.

Past experience shows every time a scenic spot is put on the World Heritage List, the admission price soon rises sharply, as happened at Jiuzhaigou and Huangshan Mountain.

For many local governments, the bid for world heritage status is just the start. They are more interested in the ensuing commercial operation of the concerned sites rather than preservation. Construction takes money and price hikes naturally happen.

But in many cases the so-called "construction" only damages the natural environment of these sites. In bad scenarios, overdevelopment results in their devaluation.

Cultural heritage sites are irreplaceable symbols of a nation's cultural roots. If high admission prices block public entry, and commercial development is randomly carried out, it goes against the basic principles of preserving world heritage sites.