Conservation and Development of Qilou Districts
A Case Study of the Historical and Cultural District of Haikou City

騎楼地区の保護と開発
海口歴史文化街区を事例として
ZHANG XINYUAN張 馨元
1. Introduction(1) What is Qilou?
Qilou, also known as arcade buildings orverandah-style buildings, are widely distributed intropical areas of Southeast Asia, India, and southern
China. In the early nineteenth century, Stamford Raffles,
Singapore's urban designer, required all buildings to havean additional covered veranda about five feet wide infront of them to facilitate foreign trade. In themid-nineteenth century, the Overseas Chinese returned toChina and brought this architecture back to theirhomeland.
(2) Research Objective(i) To identify the priority conservation needs forQilou buildings within Haikou's Historic and CulturalDistrict, and to analyze the degree of conservation ofthese historic buildings.
(ii) To determine the degree of commercialisation of
Haikou's Historic and Cultural District based on thecharacteristics of its five streets: Zhongshan Road,
Deshengsha Road, Bo'ai Road, Xinhua Road, andXinmin West Road.
(iii) To compile and analyse the developmentapproaches suitable to the Historic and Cultural Districtof Haikou based on conservation and commercial
development models from different countries andregions.
(3) Research Method(i) Identifying and classifying the contents ofQilou-type historic and cultural districts from
Chinese and foreign literature. Review
government policies and technical guidance, anddetermine Haikou's historic and culturalpreservation standards.
(ii) I photographed the surrounding
environment and building maintenance on Qilou
Street. I also interviewed some of the shopkeepers
in the area. The purpose of this was tounderstand their views regarding the current

学位論文梗概集 2022

state of commercialization in the historic andcultural district.
(iii) Analyze the characteristics and degree ofcommercialisation of each street and examine thefactors that contributed to the development of
this region's commercial sector.
(iv) To study the commercial development
cases of other outstanding historical and culturalconservation areas and draw on their strategies
and development models through comparative
analysis.
2. Conservation of the Histiorical and CulturalDistrict of Haikou City
(1) The restoration condition of the facades
Through the visits and investigation, I have selected
five roads for the study and sample data, which are:
Zhongshan Road, Bo ’ ai Road, Xinhua Road, XinminWest Road, Deshengsha Road. Based on facade
restoration, the Qilou buildings within the Haikou
Historic and Cultural District have been divided here into
three categories: completely repaired buildings, partiallyrepaired buildings and unrepaired buildings.

ZhongshanRoad
Bo'ai Road
DeshengshaRoadXinmin WestRoad
Xinhua Road

Completely
repairedrate

PartiallyRepairedrate

Unrepaired
rate

95%

4%

1%

41%

11%

48%

26%

72%

2%

45%

49%6%

62%

17%

21%

Table 1. The level of intervention of the 5 sample
streets during 2021
(2) Analyzing the reasons for Qilou's facadechanges(i) Reasons of nature: As Haikou is in a tropicalmonsoon climate zone, with abundant precipitation and ahumid climate all year round, the buildings here requiremore constant long-term maintenance than in dryer areasof China.
(ii) Historical reasons: The main port and trade centerof Haikou were located in the northern part of the historicand cultural district. During 2016, under government
leadership, the north area was centrally renovated andrestored due to its high concentration of historic buildings.
Those located in the Development Control Area, such as
Bo ’ ai South Road and Xinhua South Road, have notbeen systematically protected.
(iii) Reasons for ownership: The ownership ofbuildings within the Core Conservation Area is mostly
nationalised, so the government can provide targeted
conservation and regular renovation of buildings in thisarea. Nonetheless, many houses located in theDevelopment Control Area are at risk of becoming
dangerous due to the lack of ownership.
3. Commercialisation of the Historical and CulturalDistrict of Haikou City
There are different types of shops operating on each of
the five sample streets. Tourist souvenir shops are themost prevalent shops on Zhongshan Road. Clothing
wholesale shops dominate Deshengsha Road and Xinhua
Road, but the variety of shops on Deshengsha Road ishomogeneous, with mostly clothing shops. The mostconcentrated type of shops on Xinmin West Road isrestaurants. On Xinhua Road, there are many different
types of shops. Of these five streets, Bo'ai Road has themost diverse selection of shops.
4. The development model of Historic and Cultural
Districts of Haikou
The development model of Historic and Cultural
Districts of Haikou is more in line with the needs of thegovernment and meeting the demands of historic building
conservation. As Haikou's historic and cultural districts
are developed by the government, extensive maintenanceis concentrated over a long period of time and street
integrity is maintained. However, in terms of commerce,
Haikou's historic and cultural districts face a lack ofexperience. The existing commercial areas are unable tosatisfy the consumer mentality of visitors. There is areputation for many of the shops on Zhongshan Road onsocial networks, but the lack of stability has led to lowvitality. In addition, interviews revealed that residents
lack knowledge of the Qilou architecture, which is one of
the reasons why many residents did not return to theQilou area after the renovation ended in 2016.

Figure 1. The Current Hainan Development Model
5. Conclusion and Recommendation
A comparison of 2013, 2016 and 2021 reveals that
Haikou's historic and cultural districts have been
gradually restored 'from north to south', with Zhongshan
Road as the core. The five sample streets that appear inthis paper also all have their own characteristics in termsof commercialisation. However, there are many problems
with the current management of the commercialisation ofQilou buildings. With reference to the experiences andshortcomings in the development process of historicaland cultural districts in two regions, Malaysia and Fujian
Province, this paper will make the following suggestions
for the conservation and commercialisation of Haikou's
historic and cultural districts.
(i) Conducting regular inspections and maintenanceon the Qilou buildings.
(ii) As a commercial and cultural district, the Qilou
neighbourhood should develop more innovative
commercial development activities.
(iii) Increasing residents' awareness of historicpreservation is important.
(iv) The government and the state-owned enterprises
should return some of the management rights of thehistoric and cultural districts to society.

Abstract：The research object of this paper is the historic and cultural district of Haikou City. Compared with
2013, 2016, and 2021, Qilou districts have gradually been restored. The five sample streets that appear in this paper
also all have their characteristics in terms of commercialisation. However, there are many problems with thecurrent management of the commercialisation of Qilou buildings. This paper will provide a general overview of
the current state of architectural conservation and commercialization in Haikou's Historic and Cultural District, as
well as provide some insight into how the Qilou neighbourhood may be improved in the future.

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