The evolution of national level historic district registration and conservation in China: the Beijing Yandaixiejie and Beijing Guozijian districts in Beijing, China

From the 1980s, Chinese experts from some mainland universities, such as Tongji Universtiy in Shanghai and Tsinghua University in Beijing, commenced research into heritage management and historic architectural conservation in China. With the announcement of the First and Second Lists of 10 Chinese Historic and Cultural Districts in 2009 and 2010, the conservation of historic districts was generally received and elevated in agreements from state-level government to local level governments. This paper considers literature about international and Chinese regulations and presents the evolution of historic district conservation in China. The paper explores the effective and ineffective results of the “Selection Contest of Chinese Top 10 Historic and Cultural Districts” in two cases selected from the First and Second Lists of 10 Chinese Historical and Cultural Districts during upon recent research and investigations. In each example, the paper provides a detailed examination of public awareness and their evaluation of conservation effectiveness through questionnaires.