Feng Jicai and his book telling his story about protecting cultural heritage [Photo/whb.cn]

Born in Feb 9.1942 in Tianjin, Feng Jicai is a renowned writer, painter, cultural scholar and Dean of the Feng Yicai Institute of Literature and Art at Tianjin University. During the last 20 plus years, he has devoted himself to protecting cultural heritage. His works have involved historical events related to his hometown of Tianjin. He also wrote several newspaper articles appealing to the people of Tianjin to take action and show responsibility in preserving their community.

"Tianjin is a city consisting of two radically different parts due to historical reasons, one half being the authentic and profound local culture, and the other half being filled with typical Western culture. It is unique for being a city with two separate worlds, including people, language, faces, utensils, lifestyles, and urban forms. In the early days of the colonial era, the two worlds were separated by vast wilderness, rarely interacting with each other. The two parts treated each other with curiosity, suspicions and misunderstandings. Therefore, incredible stories have been created in the city, and I have heard a lot of them. They are prototypes of my novel."

The following is a story Feng tells about his experience in protecting cultural heritage.

With 1999 being the last year of the 20th century, I planned to hold a lantern show at Guyi Street. The over 600-year-old ancient commercial street business street was once the cradle of Tianjin's business. It still preserved the unique business architecture featuring grand and tall exterior with gorgeous decoration. I thought it would be extremely beautiful if lanterns were lined across the street, and if the traditional festival was revitalized. It was just at that time, the bad news of the street being demolished came.

I was so shocked that I couldn't believe my ears since the street was so important for Tianjin. It came into presence even before the city itself. For over 600 years, the street has preserved the ups and downs and all the different dynasties. The residents were literally the oldest inhabitants of the city.

When I was assured that the news was true, I along with others took immediate actions to stop the demolishment. We connected media to call for widespread attention in against the deconstruction of the old street. At the same time, we did four things to preserve it. We started inviting professional videographers to make a video of the Guyi street one door after another. We also took numerous photos which were used particularly to record valuable cultural elements. In addition, we tried to retain the oral history of the ancient street by visiting people who grew up in the street and recorded them relling the stories. Lastly, we collected relevant cultural relics. Except the above mentioned photos, videos and oral record, we also made efforts in collecting material objects and entities that carried cultural values of Guyi Street.

Feng Jicai [Photo/whb.cn]

Feng Jicai's book about Tianjin [Photo/whb.cn]