Hangzhou Historic Building Regulations: What a Listing Means

From measures to regulations

The difference matters: measures are rules issued by the city government, while regulations are passed by the city's People's Congress and approved by the province, and carry fines set in law.

What can be listed

Under Article 10, a building or structure that is not already a protected cultural relics site can be declared a historic building, with the approval of the city or county government, if it meets any one of five tests:

1. Its style, structure, materials, workmanship or engineering has artistic character and scientific value.
2. It reflects Hangzhou's history, culture and folk traditions, with the features of its time and place.
3. It is a workshop, shop, factory or warehouse representative of the history of industry — the reason shops and factories are on the list.
4. It is an important modern building linked to a major historical event, a revolutionary movement or a famous person.
5. It has some other special historical or cultural significance.

Anyone, including an owner, may recommend a building (Article 11). The planning department, with the heritage departments, draws up a proposed list, consults the district, the owners and the public, has it reviewed by an expert committee and submits it to the government to announce (Article 12). If a building of possible value turns up during construction, work must stop and the planning department must be told (Article 13).

Three categories of protection

Article 24 places each historic building in one of three categories, according to its value, age and condition:

• Category one — high value and typical of its kind: its exterior, main floor plan, characteristic structure and components must not change.
• Category two — fairly high value and fairly representative: its exterior, characteristic structure and components must not change.
• Category three — some value: its main exterior features and characteristic components must not change.

For each building the city prepares a protection plan (Article 25) and a guide to its use and repair (Article 26), and tells the person responsible in writing what they may and may not do (Article 27). The city also puts up a protection sign, which no one may move, deface or damage (Article 14).

What owners and users must do

• Maintain it. The owner of a privately owned building, or the user of a state-owned one, is the person responsible for protection and pays for maintenance and repair (Article 30).
• Repair to an approved plan. Repairs follow a plan reviewed by the heritage department, whose changes must be adopted (Article 33).
• Report danger. If the building is at risk of collapse or damage, the person responsible must act at once and report it (Article 35).
• Keep the setting. No new buildings within its protection area, except approved ancillary structures (Article 28); signs, lights, air-conditioning units and awnings must suit its appearance (Article 36).
• Ask before changing its use (Article 29) and before any move; a building that is moved or taken down must first be surveyed and recorded (Article 38).

The regulations also allow sensible reuse and encourage owners to open historic buildings to the public (Article 40), and require compensation when the government takes a historic building for redevelopment (Article 37).

Fines

In each case the authorities first order the offender to stop or put things right; the fines follow as each article sets out.

Since 2023: protecting the whole historic city

The Hangzhou Historic and Cultural City Protection Regulations, in force since 1 May 2023, are the city's first law to protect the historic city as a whole. Besides historic towns, villages, blocks and buildings, they cover the World Heritage sites and the historic urban areas of past capitals, prefectures and county seats. They merge the city-level historic blocks and areas into "historic character areas", add a category of "traditional-style buildings" and allow fines of up to ¥1 million for organisations and ¥100,000 for individuals that damage the traditional layout or historic character.

Sources

• Full text of the 2013 regulations, published by Hangzhou's news portal: 杭州市历史文化街区和历史建筑保护条例.
• The 2023 regulations: Hangzhou Daily report of April 2023.
• The batch notices of 2004–2010 on hangzhou.gov.cn, for the earlier measures and their order number.