About “Friends of Old Beijing”

“Friends of Old Beijing” is one of Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center’s major programs.  We are currently carrying out Phase II of this project with a goal of producing a report on the condition of the old town in Beijing for the municipal government by June 2008.  We hope that our research will help to advance the process of protecting the old town of Beijing.  We will also post some of the data and other information on our website as the research progresses.

Our volunteers are our most important asset. In October 2007, after several training sessions, more than 100 volunteers were divided into 10 groups and assigned to certain preservation districts.  The research for this program is divided into three stages: Stage I - hutongs inside the preservation districts, Stage II - hutongs outside the preservation districts, and Stage III - individual architectures within the preservation districts.  We have designed two survey forms for the volunteers to do research in hutongs.  Both forms are divided into three sections: basic information, protection information, and resident interviews.  We also asked the volunteers to take relevant pictures during their research.

Throughout this entire process, we will hold monthly lectures which we hope will help improve the volunteers’ cultural protection knowledge, skills, and techniques.  The CHP staffs have also joined the volunteers in their surveying and held more trainings throughout the process.

The surveying of the volunteers will not only help us to write our report, but they will also convey preservation information to the residents and raise their awareness.  We hope that the volunteers will be able to influence the residents and strengthen the preservation of Old Beijing.

Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center