Yangshupu Water Plant remains its original flavor

"Two years ago, it’s a question of whether to dismantle them. Now it’s a question of how to preserve them."As an expert puts it, the attitude towards historical buildings in Shanghai has changed greatly.

Realizing the increasing importance of preserving historical buildings in the city, Shanghai has put the protection of historical sights and original flavor as a priority in the urban development recent years. More and more government officials are aware that no damage should be made to the historical flavor due to the requirement of real estate developers or the pressure from certain officials.

In fact, a protection plan was blueprinted for the 12 historical areas as early as October 2004. Over 300 experts from Tongji University classified the buildings in the historical areas into five classes in terms of protection value, and apply different protection measures accordingly. Change of plan is not permitted without the agreement of majority of experts, which prevents random modification of the plan and provides a legal procedure for the change of plan.

Expo Park is listed as a key part in the plan, where 70% to 80% old factory buildings will be preserved. And thanks to the preferential policy offered by government, most of the relocated citizens say they are"very satisfied"with their new home in a survey.