Ancient town in Shangri-la to be restored

The opening ceremony marking the restoration of the ancient town in Shangri-la kicked off at the center of the disaster site on April 8, xgll.com.cn reported.
 
More than 240 houses were burned down in a fire on Jan.11 at the ancient town of Dukezong in Shangri-la, a resort county in southwest China's Yunnan province. The fire has drawn worldwide attention from home and abroad.
 
In order to restore the ancient city to its original style, the local departments concerned and planners from China’s renowned universities including the Beijing University, Tsinghua University and Kunming Institute of Technology have completed the restoration plan within the shortest period of time. It is now being reviewed by experts at the provincial, prefecture and county levels.

In these two pictures we can see workers restore a fire-damaged home in the ancient town of Dukezong in Shangri-la County, Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A general restoration plan for the ancient town of Dukezong which caught fire in January has been issued, Huang Zhenghong, head of Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Region, said recently. According to the plan, which is worth 1.2 billion yuan (196 million U.S. dollars), all affected residences in the town will be fixed by the end of 2014 and the whole project is expected to be finished within three years. Dukezong, eastablished more than 1,300 years ago, is known for its Tibetan-style architectures. The fire that broke out in January burnt nearly a fifth of the ancient town's core preservation area.
 
The project will be focused on the construction of infrastructure, renovation of people’s residence, restoration of Shangri-La featuring ethnic Tibetan culture, which will also be protected as an intangible cultural heritage. The whole operation is expected to be finished in three years, and the construction of infrastructure including electricity, telecommunication, fire control, drainage, heating and roads to be completed by the end of this year.
 
The project will be supervised by the Shangri-la county government and evaluated by the public, according to Xiao Xu, head of the project.
 
Xiao Xu stressed that the Dukezong ancient town is the symbol of Shangri-la. The restoration work should be shared by the government, enterprises and the general public, by which the ancient city could be rebuilt into a historical, cultural and dynamic town. 　
 
Dukezong, meaning “town of the moon” in Tibetan, was built 1,300 years ago and became an important landmark on the Southern Silk Road. It became one of the most renowned resorts in Shangri-la, famous for its well-preserved ancient Tibetan dwellings.