Professor Chen Zhihua is from Ningbo， a port city of eastern China’s Zhejiang Province. Born in 1929， he became a sociology major at Qinghua University at the age of 18. Two years later， however， he switched to architecture. His passion for architecture was partly due to his great admiration for Mr. Liang Sicheng and his wife Lin Huiyin and partly due to his understanding that architecture was fully concerned with life and humanity. After tinkering with sociology for two years， he finally summoned up his courage and went to see the couple. The two professors were having lunch when the young student arrived. Professor Liang asked Chen about his opinion about architecture. The nervous young man stammered but his lengthy answer pleased the professor. Chen switched to architecture.

Chen Zhihua began to study architecture. In the 1960s， he wrote “A History of Foreign Architecture”. The 500，000-word study has been a college textbook since then. It was by chance that Chen spotted the big gap between the Chinese and the western in protecting traditional architecture and the urgency of protecting the disappearing Chinese rural architecture. He was visiting Italy and ran into a 700-year-old lane. Retired people organized themselves into a club and started a study program on the antiqued lane. With subsidies from the government， they published their research results in books.

In 1983， Chen Zhihua started a course at Qinghua on the preservation of ancient architecture. In 1989 at the invitation of the government of Longyou， a rural county in southern Zhejiang Province， Chen and his colleagues did a field study on the measurements of an important memorial temple in Longyou. The study marked the beginning of the professor’s systematic survey of rural architecture across China. Twice a year since then， he has been able to visit rural areas with a group of his students. Chen has focused on rural Chinese architecture since his retirement.

When Professor Chen switched his attention to rural Chinese architecture， Japan and America were the leaders in this particular field. While visiting the village of Xinye， Chen ran into a group of Japanese scholars doing a field study there. A Japanese scholar advised Chen not to waste time taking photos because the Japanese scholar had already set up a complete photo database and offered to provide Chen with photos. The Japanese added that Tokyo in future would be the information center on China’s rural architecture.

Despite the fact that they had only a small amount of research fund， Chen and his colleagues knew that they would have to win in this international competition. The 2008 publication of a 8-book series on rural architecture as Chinese cultural heritage is the result of 20 years hard work of Chen and his two colleagues and many students. While comparing the books on Chinese rural architecture by Chinese scholars with those by Japanese and American scholars， Chen confirms proudly that Chinese scholars’ research quality outshine that of foreigners.

Focus on Jiangshan

It was in November， 2003 that Professor Chen Zhihua first came to know the initiative of the local government to preserve and develop the ancient town of Nianbadu in Jiangshan. The first contact， however， was not pleasant due to some misunderstanding over a telephone conversation. The tourism bureau had formulated a plan to start a restoration project and finish it by January， 2005 when the town would be launched to the market as a tourism destination. The bureau needed the professor’s help and endorsement. A vice director of the bureau phoned Chen， explaining the project to him. Chen Zhihua was displeased with the words such as “tourism product”， “planning”， “packaging” and “benefits” that popped up too frequently in the brief introduction， for these words seemed to indicate a dangerous tendency of disregarding necessary preservation.

Aware of the mistake and possible misunderstanding， Jiangshan sent a group of officials to Beijing to consult the professor. He Weiping， the vice mayor of Jiangshan explained the status quo of the town. The vice director of the tourism bureau explained the initiative， stressing preservation this time. They found that the professor was not a man who sticks to doctrines. The professor emphasized the importance of a thorough survey and study before any decision making. He said he was open to development ideas but stressed the importance of not touching anything before a decision could be made.

A survey conducted by the local government found that most residents in ancient architectures in Nianbadu would like to move out to better housing. They were not owners of these old houses and most of them moved in in the early years of the New China after the land reform movement. Only a few old people and some owners would not like to relocate. The survey also found， on the other hand， that some people would like to move in. If the new residents were given responsibility to take care of the restored houses and if some funds could be assigned to restore old furniture， probably that would be a new way to use limited funds to protect all these ancient houses. A new development plan was initiated on the basis of data from the survey. Shortly afterwards， Chen Zhihua in his 80s traveled all the way from Beijing to see the ancient town deep in mountains in southern Zhejiang.

Although blind in the right eye， the professor walked around the town， visiting all the ancient houses and discussing details of preservation and possible development. He gave advices and said no to some suggestions.

Chen Zhihua has toured Jiangshan many times since then. In the spring， 2004， Chen visited the village of Sanqingkou in Jiangshan and loved it. He said that the well preserved ecology and the ancient porcelain production methods were rare in the country and that the government should take immediate action to apply for a cultural heritage site for the village. In 2005， the local officials reported the discovery of ancient kilns in Hemu Village in Jiangshan. Five of the ancient kilns were still in use. Chen was excited when informed of the important discovery and asked the local officials not to touch anything before he arrived to see.

With the efforts of the local government and professor Chen， Jiangshan now has three national cultural heritage sites. Five books on rural architecture in Jiangshan have been published. □