CCTV: As a historical and cultural district,Tanhualin carries the memories of generations in Wuchang.How do we combine the human concern with the value of Tanhualin? What is the core value of the revitalization and why we are doing this?

　　Qitong Xu:If I were to think about your questions in a philosophical way,then two answers need to be given, one is what the other is why.

　　What is the revitalization of historical and cultural district? From my perspective, I suppose the historical and cultural district should be the place where lies the most inspiring,advancing culture and spirit.

　　Looking back to the history of Wuhan,we had a glorious time after the opening of trading ports in Hankou in 1860 to Zhangzhidong was in power in 1981 and till right before the 1911 revolution.Wuhan reached all-around development of economy,culture,international exchanges in 50 years’time.The revitalization we are talking about today is to regain the achievement we had during that period of time.The area which will be able to hold such memory of a city and be able to pass on the spirit and culture to generations should be considered as a historical and cultural district that is worth being revitalized.

　　Why Tanhualin then? Looking back to Wuhan’s history, during the 50 years of glory, the city’s construction and economic development are merest appearance, the essence of development was the inner energy,which was after opening up the trading port,the ideology of ‘traditional Chinese values aided with modern Western management and technology’by Zhang Zhidong has accelerated the transformation. Thus we consider Tanhualin as a window to the cultural exchange between China and the western world. Under the guidance of Zhang Zhidong’s ideology,Tanhualin went through tremendous political and economic change.All the economic activities of Wuhan happened in Wuchang at that time,and numbers of kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools and colleges were built at that time, thus a complete modern education system was established due to the emergence of western culture.Tanhualin made it possible for the coexistence of Chinese local residents and westerners.And speaking from an architectural perspective, the buildings in Tanhualin are a great combination of blending the Chinese and western culture.For all reasons above, we believe Tanhualin posses the most of the cultural heritage from the glorious time of Wuhan thus revitalization should be done in this area.

　　We are looking back to the history so to face the future.The revitalization of old district should be considered as an encouragement to today’s city planners,at the same time to bring the revitalization of Tanhualin to an international level.Wuchang is a district of grand cultural background, it should fully demonstrate its historical and cultural value and lead the development of Wuhan as the location of Tanhualin, and this is the core value of the revitalization of Tanhualin.