A bird's-eye view of Chongqing's 18 Steps Road "urban village". Zhong Guilin / for China Daily

Plans to renovate this historical area of Chongqing have been greeted by fears that a cultural icon will disappear, and relief that poor houses with bad sanitation will be improved. Ji Jin reports.

Shibati Road (18 Steps Road) in Chongqing is known as the municipality's "Mother Town", but its 100 years of history now faces the challenge of renovation.

There are two pedestrian streets in Yuzhong district, Chongqing. One is Jiefang Bei (Liberation Monument) and the other, not too far away, is 18 Steps Road.

At Liberation Monument a bustling and prosperous modern city life can be experienced. At 18 Steps you can find a glimpse of old Chongqing.

The 18 Steps follows along the Yangtze River and despite being near the Central Business District, it is often referred to an "urban village" because old and dilapidated stilt houses dominate it.

The steep street is made of stone steps that descend from the upper CBD to the lower part of the "hill city" by the Yangtze.

The oldest person living in the area is 104-year-old Chen Shuhua, who lives at 135, Houchi Lane, in an apartment of less than 20 square meters, on the second floor of an old wooden house.

"The house we live in has a history of nearly 100 years," says Chen's daughter, Mo Shufan. "My mother has been living in this house since she married at 18."

Nearly all the houses in the neighborhood are wooden.

"Some of the houses have been reinforced with bricks by residents, but our house is so old and shabby we are worried about its safety," Mo says.

"We haven't reinforced our house and we are afraid of falling through the floor."

On the walls of most 18 Steps houses there are now big red Chinese characters for "demolition" and it is clear the days of these houses and the community are numbered.

"I've lived here since I started to remember things," Mo says. "It's been very pleasant to live here, and I will feel sad to leave."

Mo says she knows of two stories recounting the origin of 18 Steps. One version is that in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) there was an old well in the street, and the distance between the well and the nearest house was 18 steps.

The other story suggests the road was divided into several sections by 18 stone steps and at each section there was a platform for people to have a rest. Chongqing, traditionally, has been divided by its hills into an upper and lower half, which people accessed by stone steps.

"There were not too many streets connecting the upper and lower sections of the city, and 18 Steps was one of the most important. In that time, the street was thriving and prosperous," Mo says.

She says she thought of Liyuan Tea Shop first when she knew the community was going to be torn down.

"That tea shop has been open for years and I used to sit by the window to get a panoramic view of the old street when it was raining," she says.

"I hope the government will save the tea shop. It would be a shame to tear it down."

The street has been in poor condition since the 1970s. Garbage and unpleasant smells have become a part of locals' daily lives. A lot of people living at the bottom of society gather and live here because of the low rents.

Plans to renovate the area have been on the table for the past 20 years and some residents are anxious for this to happen soon.

A second-hand mobile-phone store owner surnamed Tan says that he has lived in the community for about 15 years because of low rents and has run his store on Houchi Lane for two years. He has changed his line of business several times, but never left the area.

"I hope the road can be torn down as soon as possible," he says. "This area is in poor condition and sanitation is bad."

Local government officers say the renovations planned for Yuzhong district, including 18 Steps, will have a Chongqing flavor.

Zheng Binghong, an architecture professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, suggests 18 Steps should be fully investigated before the renovations take place because the area is rich in history.

Sun Yuanming, a researcher at Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences and chairman of Applied Psychology Research Center, says that because the street is one of the few places with a traditional Chongqing culture, reconstruction standards should be higher than those for normal residential areas and sites of historic interest should be protected.

Sun says the renewal plans should display respect toward the history and culture of Chongqing.

In addition to some buildings being preserved, he says intangible cultural heritage, such as the traditional lifestyle of locals, should also be protected.

"If there are no special cultural symbols in our city, everything will be the same," Sun says.

Above: A porter waits for work under the sign for Shibati Road. Ji Jin / China Daily Below: Chen Shuhua, 104, is the oldest resident in 18 Steps. Xu Yongping / for China Daily

   

From top: Dilapidated buildings dominate 18 Steps Road; many migrant workers live in the area where rent is low; a restaurant on 18 Steps Road. Xu Yongping / for China Daily Xu Kangping / for China Daily Ji Jin / China Daily