2008 — Speech on the Design Concept for the Lishui River Scenic Belt (Part 3)
3. On the basis and rationale for the design concept of the Lishui River Scenic Belt. (1) To build a world-class tourism attraction, the central urban area must be positioned as an international tourism city. It is suggested that the central city serve as a support for the core scenic area. On this point, Secretary Zhang Chunxian emphasized: "To build a world-class tourism attraction, Zhangjiajie must be positioned as an international-oriented
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
III. On the basis and rationale for the construction philosophy of the Lishui Scenic Belt.
(1) To build a world-class tourism masterpiece.
The central urban area must be positioned as an international tourism city. It is suggested that the central city serve as a support for the core scenic area. On this point, Secretary Zhang Chunxian emphasized: "To build a world-class tourism masterpiece, Zhangjiajie must be positioned as an international tourism city... Zhangjiajie's city must be re-planned." Only by doing a good job in building masterpieces can this tourism city truly face the world and share a larger market share of international tourism, especially the huge European and American markets. Leveraging the enormous platform provided by Wulingyuan's landscape sightseeing tourism, we can absolutely develop urban tourism on a grand scale. The key is to build the Yongding urban area into an internationally oriented tourism destination.
(2) To build an internationally oriented tourism city, we must change the current situation where a tourism city cannot conduct urban tourism.
The fact that a tourism city cannot conduct tourism has kept our tourism stuck at the sightseeing level for a long time without transitioning to leisure tourism. The core problem is that the city has not yet formed characteristics that can attract and retain tourists. As Secretary Zhang Chunxian pointed out: "Currently, urban construction indeed has many constraining factors and cannot meet the needs of building a world-class tourism masterpiece. For example, the planning starting point is not high; construction is rather chaotic; characteristics are insufficient; construction is uncoordinated—rural houses, urban houses, private houses and public houses, houses built in different periods, show obvious contrasts with no transition; the city lacks a distinctive main style." To build an internationally oriented tourism city, we must promptly begin to change this situation, starting with specific projects. The basically completed "Four Roads Renovation" and the soon-to-be-launched Lishui Scenic Belt construction are concrete actions toward building an internationally oriented tourism city.
(3) To achieve urban tourism, we must create a "core" of urban tourism.
What is the "core" of urban tourism? Our understanding is that it is the most intrinsic and most attractive thing about a tourism city, usually some buildings, landscapes, or distinctive zones, through which a certain unique attraction led by culture is fully expressed. This attraction must be embodied through specific urban architectural complexes as its carrier. Looking at tourism cities at home and abroad, any city that serves as a tourism destination must have such a "core." Domestically, taking East China as an example: Shanghai's "core" is in the Bund, Nanjing Road, Yuyuan area, and the metropolitan scenery on both banks of the Huangpu River—tourists simply must see it; Hangzhou's "core" is West Lake, permeated with a happiness index full of leisure atmosphere; Nanjing's "core" is in the Qinhuai River and Confucius Temple area; Suzhou's "core" is in its many gardens listed as World Cultural Heritage sites. Abroad, taking Western Europe as an example: Paris's "core" is the Seine River, with the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées, and other famous sights lining both banks, captivating countless people worldwide! Venice's "core" is the water city scenic belt on the Adriatic coast, where 12 million tourists linger each year; Rome's "core" is the old city area dotted with historical remains such as the Colosseum and Vatican churches, making visitors marvel and pause everywhere. These all verify an iron law: any tourism city with such a "core" has mature and developed urban tourism. Conversely, without it, a city cannot become a must-visit tourism destination. The tourism city of Zhangjiajie currently cannot fully conduct urban tourism; the key is the lack of such a "core," causing its status as a central city to face the severe challenge of marginalization. Therefore, we must hurry to create the "core." On this point, Secretary Zhang Chunxian emphasized: "We are building a city that must not only have basic urban functions but also serve as the support and carrier of a world-class tourism masterpiece, meeting tourism needs," "carrying out some key construction around meeting tourists' needs for food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment," "so that when tourists arrive in this city, they know they have already entered the scenic area, that they have entered Zhangjiajie."
(4) To create Zhangjiajie's "core" of urban tourism, we must abandon the scenic belt model of "high-rise buildings + 'planting trees and grass' greening mode."
1. Building the two banks of the Lishui River in the urban area into a "planting trees and grass" greening scenic belt is "a lot of effort for little reward." The two banks of the Lishui River that run through the city are a narrow river valley. "A small mountain town in northwestern Hunan" is the basic perception of the existing urban landscape. If we copy the usual practice of many cities and turn the limited space on both banks of the Lishui into a "planting trees and grass" greening mode, first, demolishing large areas of buildings in densely built-up areas to create greenbelts is truly not worth spending that wasted money, because merely planting a stretch of trees and grass on both banks for citizens to stroll and relax is fine, but it absolutely cannot attract tourists' attention or form a "core" of urban tourism—it is a typical case of "a lot of effort for little reward." From the perspective of our city's urban geographical conditions, if the Lishui Scenic Belt were built as a "planting flowers and grass" riverside scenic belt model, not to mention that our current financial resources are limited and it would be difficult to spend huge sums to demolish large tracts of buildings and free up land for large patches of green space and lawns—even if we had the ability, it would be purely superfluous shuffling. Our Zhangjiajie is, after all, a mountainous area, and the urban area is, after all, a narrow Lishui river valley sandwiched between two mountains, with very limited land resources. Moreover, our city itself is already a city well surrounded by forests. We can absolutely extend streets to or into the highly connected urban forest areas of Tianmen Mountain, Ziwutai, Huilongguan, Wuzipo, and others, achieving the basic pattern of forests within the city and the city within forests. The inherent urban geographical conditions leave extremely limited space for the Lishui Scenic Belt. We do not expect, nor is it possible, to demolish half the old city to create the kind of spacious, luxurious green scenic belt of a plains city that has only input and no output.
2. Looking across urban tourism at home and abroad, the "high-rise buildings + greening" scenic belt model cannot create a "core" of urban tourism. Looking around at riverside scenic belts everywhere, those that have become a "core" of urban tourism are not scenic belts themed on "high-rise buildings + greening." For example, the Venice water city scenic belt, Shanghai's Huangpu River scenic belt, and Nanjing's Qinhuai River scenic belt have no greenbelts at all (although Shanghai's Bund has no shortage of high-rise buildings, they are distinctive buildings full of artistic beauty)! Several pocket-sized tourism cities such as Lijiang, Yangshuo, and Fenghuang have also basically formed their "cores": Lijiang's "core" is Sifang Street, Yangshuo's "core" is West Street, and Fenghuang's "core" is along the Tuo River—none of these places have high-rise buildings or greenbelts either! Let us think in reverse: if Fenghuang demolished the stilt houses and old city walls along the Tuo River to create a greenbelt, would Fenghuang's tourism still exist? If Lijiang demolished the waterside buildings around Sifang Street to create a greenbelt, would Lijiang still be Lijiang? Wuhan's riverside scenic belt cost tens of billions yet cannot become a "core," while Jiqing Street is bustling with popularity. Tianjin spent tens of billions on the Haihe scenic belt, yet tourists are only seen flocking to the antique culture street and Golden Street. Examples of spending huge sums yet failing to achieve urban tourism are too numerous to mention. If our Lishui Scenic Belt follows the conventional greenbelt model, it would merely mean first demolishing large numbers of houses to build high-rise buildings, then planting flowers and grass. But the result can be imagined: it would merely repeat the old path of many cities that spent huge sums yet still could not achieve urban tourism. Because no city's riverside scenic belt can be said to have achieved a "core" of urban tourism through "high-rise buildings + greenbelt." Since our goal is to build the Lishui Scenic Belt into a "core" of urban tourism, we should make it a landscape belt with distinctive architecture as the main content, a "tourism and leisure belt" that fully displays local cultural charm, thereby becoming what Secretary Zhang Chunxian called "a place where tourists have something to see." Faced with two vastly different scenic belt concepts—whether the Lishui Scenic Belt should be mainly about planting trees and grass or mainly about distinctive architectural complexes—the former can satisfy citizens' leisure, while the latter can satisfy both tourists' tourism and citizens' leisure. The superiority of the latter is self-evident.
Urban greening is indispensable. The Lishui Scenic Belt should also ensure a certain amount of green space. We simply do not approve of cloning the Lishui Scenic Belt into the kind of "greening-mode scenic belt" found in so many cities. To ensure that the Lishui Scenic Belt is mainly characterized by distinctive architectural landscapes, besides reserving a certain area of greenbelt along the riverside avenue (and even this greenbelt should still be made into a landscape belt full of cultural content!), the total greening of the entire urban area can be considered in an integrated way. Because some green-space-dominated hills already integrated into the urban area, such as Huilongguan, Fude Mountain, Wuzipo, Tianmen Mountain, and the Gedong area ridges, have all become organic components of the city.
3. From the perspective of cultivating the capacity for tourism city development, if the Lishui Scenic Belt is built as a riverside landscape belt modeled on "planting flowers and grass," it will be culturally impossible to form its own characteristics, and it will be unable to become the "core" of urban tourism. Without characteristics, there is no comparative advantage, and it will be difficult to create a market "selling point." A generic, park-style urban greening landscape belt that is copied everywhere is already unlikely to move tourists in our small city. The "Half-Side Street" that we have focused on planning and designing, as the best block for enjoying shared urban space, is positioned as the climax and core of Zhangjiajie's urban scenery. This is mainly because it can integrate sightseeing, amusement, leisure, shopping, tasting local flavors, and experiencing local and ethnic culture into one, serving both as a reinvention of Zhangjiajie's urban image and as a symbol of Zhangjiajie's urban culture. Only cultural spectacles created through such unique creativity can attract tourists' eyes and stir their souls. We propose taking the Lishui Scenic Belt as the main battlefield and making every effort to build the "core" of urban tourism precisely in response to the current situation that "Zhangjiajie is a tourism city, yet cannot conduct urban tourism." The goal is to make our city more cultural, enable the city to conduct tourism, make the city more competitive in meeting tourism needs, and make Zhangjiajie as a tourism product more complete and well-supported, thereby becoming a true "world-class tourism masterpiece" and "giving tourists places to see." In his article "Deeply Study and Implement the Spirit of the 17th National Congress of the Party and Solidly Advance the Building of a World-Class Tourism Masterpiece and a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects," Municipal Party Secretary Hu Bojun proposed establishing the concept that "the city is the largest tourism facility," focusing on enhancing local ethnic cultural characteristics and presenting the new appearance of an international tourism city with a unique style. Building the city into the largest tourism facility is, given that we have already decided to build the Lishui Scenic Belt, a very concrete and very urgent project. Taking the Lishui Scenic Belt as the main battlefield, building a group of advantageous projects with local ethnic historical and cultural characteristics, and making every effort to build the "core" of urban tourism is a major undertaking that can quickly get to the heart of building a world-class tourism masterpiece. We have no choice but to do it, and we must do it well.
4. Taking "modern architecture in the stilted-house style" as the main tone and building the Lishui Scenic Belt with distinctive local and ethnic characteristics is intended to "leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses" and shape a new image of Zhangjiajie as a tourism city. In our planning and design, we have departed from the conventional approach of riverside landscape belts everywhere and introduced an innovative model unique to this city: the stilted-house "Half-Side Street" and two major themed cultural landscape belts, the "Historical and Cultural Corridor" and the "Folk Customs Corridor." This involves a whole range of cultural content, including local history, ethnic groups, farming, warfare, architecture, gardens, feng shui, religion, commerce, production, daily life, customs, local flavor, literature, art, and crafts. From the modeling of each stilted house down to the design of each cultural ornament, all of it is enough to display our inherent advantages in local ethnic historical culture and our wisdom in recreating it. This is precisely where our strengths lie. On the contrary, if the Lishui Scenic Belt is built as a riverside landscape belt modeled on "planting flowers and grass," then, as already stated above, this is exactly where our shortcomings lie in land, funding, and other aspects. Planning and building the Lishui Scenic Belt, especially the "Half-Side Street" project, with cultural concepts concerns the success or failure of creating a "core" for Zhangjiajie's urban tourism. Any abandonment of the stilted-house "Half-Side Street" in favor of a "green belt" model of broad lawns plus decorative vignettes will inevitably cause the core-creation plan to miscarry, and our city will thereby lose its last plot of land for creating a "core."
(5) The two banks of the Lishui River in the urban area are the only and best section available for creating the "core" of urban tourism.
The Lishui Scenic Belt yet to be built is the only place in our city that can be expected to become a "core." The Lishui River, which runs through the city, connects the new and old urban districts and mirrors the majestic form of Tianmen. The two banks of the Lishui are not only the necessary route for tourists entering and leaving the urban area and scenic areas, but also a gathering place for residents' leisure. If this place is built to resemble the Bund and the Seine, with culture to see and savor as well as places to have fun, eat well, and enjoy leisure and vacation, it will become the "core" of urban tourism. In this way, tourists can visit the city and then go up the mountain, and after seeing the mountain come back into the city. With "the city" and "the mountain" forming a perfect pair, it will become reality for them to be developed into new tourism destinations in our city, and the history of Zhangjiajie tourism being limited to simply viewing the mountain will thus come to an end.
(6) Establish the prominent position of distinctive architecture in the "core" of urban tourism.
In a broad sense, a city is a commodity, and a commodity must have a selling point. In order to end the current situation in which our city still has no selling point, in building a tourism city we must strengthen the "landscape principle" and base ourselves on turning the city into a series of landscapes. Waterside architecture is a major principal element of scenic belts along rivers, streams, and coasts. If the Seine in Paris did not have the large expanse of magnificent European classical buildings standing on both banks, if it did not have Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre, the Place de la Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées, and the enormous visual impact and aesthetic pleasure created by the 26 densely packed bridges spanning the Seine, then it is hard to imagine what else there would be to see! If the Shanghai Bund did not have the large expanse of classic buildings known as the "Exhibition of Architecture from All Nations," and if the opposite bank did not have the Oriental Pearl Tower and a large expanse of distinctive skyscrapers, then it is likewise hard to imagine what else there would be to see! It can thus be seen that distinctive architecture is a special carrier of culture. It can record history and also sculpt time, and it holds an irreplaceable and prominent position in the "core" of urban tourism. To build the Lishui Scenic Belt as the "core" of Zhangjiajie's urban tourism is in fact to build a modern architectural complex in the Tujia stilted-house style that extends along both banks of the Lishui River and, through being "uniform in style," reaches sufficient scale. This point is crucial.
(7) In our Zhangjiajie, distinctive architecture means "modern architecture in the stilted-house style."
Regarding Zhangjiajie's urban architectural style, Provincial Party Secretary Zhang Chunxian emphasized at the report meeting on Zhangjiajie's building of a world-class tourism masterpiece: "The main tone of the city must be determined. Zhangjiajie's current city has no main tone. What exactly is Zhangjiajie's main tone? Now it seems it can probably be expressed in two ways: first, symbols of the Xiangxi Tujia people, such as stilted houses; second, the main color scheme of Tujia dwellings, such as gray tiles and white walls. Both aspects are worth studying, and once determined, they should be unified throughout the city. After the city is replanned, the basic tone of the city should be fixed, so that after tourists arrive, they can feel the soul of this city. A city must have a soul and must have characteristics." If we can meticulously build Zhangjiajie's unique Lishui Scenic Belt, then both the "main tone" and the "soul of the city" mentioned by the provincial party secretary will be present. When Mayor Zhao Xiaoming viewed the exhibition panel "Local Examples of Modern Architecture in the Stilted-House Style" in the large photo exhibition, he pointed out that once a style is recognized, it must be "uniform in style"; only by being "uniform in style" can it form scale and momentum. Later, when reviewing the design plan for traffic signs in the "Four Roads" renovation project, he further elaborated his view: Hunan's first city with local ethnic characteristics must be meticulously built. The architectural style and characteristics of the Tujia ethnic group must be embodied in the city's buildings and structures. Without the "uniformity" of local ethnic style and characteristics in urban construction, there will be no individuality or characteristics of the city. In essence, they put forward this line of thinking from the height of building an internationally oriented tourism city and through comparison with and reference to many cities at home and abroad. Just as Huangshan highlights Huizhou-style architecture, Jiuzhaigou highlights Tibetan-style architecture, Dali highlights Bai-style architecture, and Inner Mongolia highlights yurt architecture, we should unswervingly follow the instructions of the main leaders of the provincial party committee and provincial government and establish "modern architecture in the Tujia stilted-house style" as the main architectural tone of our city, thereby "enabling tourists, after they arrive, to feel the soul of this city." Those comrades who once held prejudices against the "stilted-house style" and who fundamentally did not intend to build "modern architecture in the stilted-house style" in our city, including those who intended only to build a few stilted houses as decoration in a certain section of the scenic belt, should, I believe, gain new understanding after earnestly studying Comrade Chunxian's speech. Secretary Zhang Chunxian's instructions on establishing the main style of urban architecture are extremely strategically farsighted. We should deeply comprehend his painstaking intentions and implement them fully and faithfully.
(8) Applying the stilted-house style to modern architecture has had quite successful practice both elsewhere and in this city.
Take Shanghai's Yu Garden, which covers more than 100,000 square meters, as an example. It makes extensive use of stilted-house elements, and many are more than five or six stories high. Because of its fine carving and magnificent beauty, the people who come here every day for sightseeing and tourism shopping are packed shoulder to shoulder. The street-facing shops of Longfusi beside the National Art Museum of China in Beijing were originally "matchbox" buildings with nothing distinctive to speak of, but after renovation they shone brilliantly, providing us with a successful example of high-rise buildings using stilted-house element symbols to "put on clothes and a hat." During our special investigation in Chongqing this time, we saw that the Hongyadong Tujia stilted-house architectural complex in the Jiefangbei area by the Jialing River has been built up to 13 stories. It is not only majestic and imposing, but also gives full play to the unique cultural advantages of ethnic architecture. The Hongyadong Tujia stilted-house architectural complex has an exquisite stilted-house structure on the outside, while the inside is entirely modern materials and equipment. Its straight-up-and-down elevators ended the previous history in which mountain cities had to spiral upward. Within this city, the Pipa Xi Hotel, built in the 1980s, is a typical modern architectural complex in the stilted-house style. It has always been regarded as a landscape hotel and is one of the preferred places for important Chinese and foreign guests to stay. The recently completed Wulingyuan Jingxi Hotel and Guanliping Jinlan Hotel are both nine-story "modern architecture in the stilted-house style," standing majestically in their areas with beautiful forms and making the surrounding buildings pale by comparison. The Xiangshui Hotel and Tianzi Hotel in Wulingyuan, and the Yuntai Hotel in the urban area, all use the stilted-house style to "put on clothes and a hat," and the effects are all quite good. The completed Dayong Fucheng and the Cross Street shopping mall under construction are both stilted-house architectural complexes highlighting local ethnic style, and they are welcomed by residents and tourists. Others such as the Weidi Hotel, the Wulingyuan Expert Village Hotel, the Municipal Civil Air Defense Office Building, and the Wulingyuan District CDC compound are all typical modern buildings in the Tujia stilted-house style. All of these are enough to make us even more confident in taking modern architecture in the Tujia stilted-house style as the main tone and thematic architectural form of our city, especially in the construction of the Lishui Scenic Belt. It can thus be seen that "modern architecture in the stilted-house style" is no longer merely a concept, but an operable architectural model and innovative architectural form. In particular, for modern buildings in the stilted-house style of nine stories or more, our city's design level has already greatly surpassed modern Huizhou-style architecture in places such as Huangshan and Wuyuan. Tiny Fenghuang City has, apart from two stone-slab streets, only one Tuo River and a row of old-style stilted houses, yet it has made its tourism very popular, and that row of old-style stilted houses has even become a landmark representing Fenghuang's tourism image. This merely shows that the "stilted-house style" indeed possesses extraordinary visual beauty and aesthetic value. The two banks of our Lishui have broad views and appear more grand than Fenghuang, fully capable of becoming the best platform for displaying "modern architecture in the stilted-house style" on a grand scale. This is the possibility and feasibility of our advocacy of modern architecture in the stilted-house style.