Written by Dai Qian

Photographed by Xu Jiechen

On May 30, the last household located in Bansongyuan Rd., Huangpu district, signed the relocation agreement to make room for the Shanghai World Expo Park, which was also the last family in the Expo Park moving out of the area following the signing of the agreement. This means that the World Expo relocation projects, lasting 16 months, ended completely one month ahead of the original plan.

The relocation of households for the World Expo sticks to the people-first philosophy, and has lived up to its name of "Sunshine relocation" as the relocation policy is transparent. The living conditions and qualities of the relocated families have been enhanced after the relocation. The World Expo relocation project was well welcomed by the relocated families as it is in the interest of these households.

At present, around 8,000 households have moved into their new apartments in the Sanlin Expo Garden and the Pujiang Expo Garden. Follow-up questionnaires show that most of the relocated families were satisfied with the relocation work.

Relocation to a new house usually means the complete demolition of old buildings, but the 250,000 sq m of heritage buildings, including a number of old villas in Bailianjing, Pudong, part of the old factories of Shanghai No. 3 Iron & Steel Co, and the docks and slipways of the Jiangnan Shipyard Co, in the World Expo Park have been left intact in this grand relocation. It is learned that it is the first time for the World Expo to have such kind of large-scale protection of heritage buildings since the World Expo was first held in 1851.

In protecting the heritage architecture in the World Expo Park, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination will learn from the operational experience in protecting the cultural heritages by cities such as Suzhou that enjoy long histories. Restoration technologies and quality materials will be introduced from foreign countries in restoring the old appearance of these heritage buildings and for anticorrosion treatment. After the restoration, these heritage buildings will not only be the witness of the history, but also be revitalized as many of them will be restored in harmony with surrounding modern architectures and environment.