Journal of Heritage Tourism

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Hybridisation and circulation of models in Tianjin’s

former concessions

Maria Gravari-Barbas , Sandra Guinand & Yue Lu

To cite this article: Maria Gravari-Barbas , Sandra Guinand & Yue Lu (2020): Hybridisation
and circulation of models in Tianjin’s former concessions, Journal of Heritage Tourism, DOI:
10.1080/1743873X.2020.1812615

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2020.1812615

Published online: 02 Oct 2020.

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JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM
https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2020.1812615

Hybridisation and circulation of models in Tianjin’s former

concessions
a b,c c,d
Maria Gravari-Barbas *, Sandra Guinand * and Yue Lu *
a
Institute for Research and Advanced Studies in Tourism (IREST), EIREST, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris,
France; bDepartment of Geography and Regional Research, Vienna University, Vienna, Austria; cEIREST, Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France; dInternational Research Center for Architectural Heritage Conservation,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The Italian and Wudadao districts in Tianjin, China, are two of the former Received 1 June 2020
foreign concessions1 established in the city during the nineteenth and Accepted 5 August 2020
early twentieth centuries. Listed as historic sites in the late 1990s, they
KEYWORDS
are now undergoing a rehabilitation process mobilised by various Heritage; hybridisation;
municipal agencies. These former concessions have become the most Tianjin (China);
emblematic examples of urban regeneration and exotic heritage postcolonialism; semi-
reutilisation in Tianjin. In this paper, we examine the preservation and colonialism; tourism
rehabilitation of the former concessions from the perspective of
hybridisation. In particular, we analyse the heritage trajectories of the
former Italian and British concessions to identify the critical elements
and forces that have shaped them. What influence did international
actors have in their preservation, restoration and transformation? How
did the public authorities position these districts in regard to the cultural
context? How did their values and criteria evolve? What models were
implemented, and how were they appropriated by local actors? We will
show how this semi-colonial heritage has been integrated by the local
authorities, real estate stakeholders, conservation associations and
residents to produce transnational places that transcend geographies
and borders.

Introduction
Tianjin, 14 million inhabitants, is a river and port city strategically located near the Gulf of Bohai,
120 km south-east of Beijing. It is considered the capital port city and is a leading industrial, com-
mercial and financial centre. After the Second Opium War (1856–1860), its specific location made it
one of the port cities in China to host Western concessions. It is also the one where they were the
most numerous. Nine powers (Great Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, Aus-
tria-Hungary, Russia and Belgium) built on either side of the Hai River, an area ten times larger than
the Old Chinese city. From 1860 to the Second World War, Tianjin became a ‘Cosmopolis’ (Singar-
avélou, 2017) underlying the intense international and commercial relations. It also was a laboratory
of modernity for Western powers and companies as well as for Chinese politicians and officials (Mar-
inelli, 2018).
The former Italian and British (the Wudadao district) concessions were two of those nine Wes-
tern concessions in Tianjin, China, dating back to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Made up
of modernist villas and apartment buildings and decorated with gardens and plazas planted with lush

CONTACT Maria Gravari-Barbas maria.gravari-barbas@wanadoo.fr

*Each author has contributed equally to this paper.
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

green trees (Jiang & Liu, 2018), they contrast sharply with the rest of the busy Tianjin megapolis.
Neglected for some years and partly destroyed, there has been a recent surge of interest in these for-
mer concessions among different stakeholders, including researchers, private actors and Chinese
government-led agencies.
Established during periods of occupation, concessions have been identified as ‘semi- colonialism’
(Goodman, 2000). Osterhammel (1986) defined ‘semi-colonial’ conditions as a situation in which ‘a
metropolitan country exerts power and influence within an asymmetrical relationship, but does not
assume outright domination and formal sovereignty over the peripheral country’ (Osterhammel,
1986, p. 308).
In China, the ‘concession’ was a passive word suggesting a period invaded by Western powers,
with the representation of conflicts and humiliation. However, the phrases in our recent interviews
suggest that Tianjin’s power holders are already keenly aware of the value of this history and view its
architectural heritage as having certain types of economic and symbolic capital (Lu, 2017).
Given that Tianjin’s former concessions could be experienced as a difficult memory and that they
could give rise to a contradictory dominant discourse on national heritage ideologies, they are a study
area of choice for investigating the hybridisation of heritagisation. Their value lies particularly in the
interconnected sets of actors that have (re)shaped this heritage according to different norms, values
and representations, thus creating many different heritage scenarios in terms of the reconstitution of
the original or pastiche architectures. They are testimonies of the hybridisation processes that have
been active simultaneously in the actual form of heritage recognition and in the modes of conserva-
tion and intervention. The specific context of this case study, as viewed ‘from the South’ (Robinson,
2003; Roy, 2015), offers new insights for hybridisation and heritage studies.
Through an analysis of the conservation and rehabilitation of the former concessions from the
perspective of hybridisation, this paper shed light on the social production and management of heri-
tage in contemporary China. We argue that the recent conservation, rehabilitation and reconversion
of this ‘semi-colonial’ heritage has been made possible specifically because of its hybrid character-
istics. Recognising this heritage as part of Chinese history has been a means for public and private
entities to define their positioning and their role on the international stage and within the broader
globalisation context. As Marinelli (2009, p. 412) noted: ‘the Tianjin municipal government con-
siders the “semi-colonial” historical conjuncture as the beginning of the “opening up” and “globali-
zation” of Tianjin.’ We focus on the heritage trajectories of the former Italian and British concessions
to reveal the critical elements and forces that have shaped them. First, we look at hybridisation and
what this concept implies when associated with heritage. We then examine Tianjin’s former conces-
sions and the different models that influenced their construction. The third section concentrates on
four different case studies, namely the Italian concession and three rehabilitation projects located in
the former British concession. This is followed by a discussion of the different ways in which inter-
national stakeholders and models have influenced the conservation, restoration and transformation
of these projects as well as of how local and national actors have positioned themselves in regard to
this heritage. The conclusion will offer insights into how heritage hybridisation could be framed in
the context of contemporary China filling a gap on transnational heritage (Xu & Sofield, 2017).

Heritage hybridisation
Defining heritage hybridisation is not an easy task. Heritage is essentially the result of accumulated
layers of different temporalities and socio-cultural interventions: ‘the concept of cultural heritage
itself is historically constructed as a hybrid social product’ (Hernandez & Marti, 2006, p. 91). How-
ever, using the term hybridisation with heritage specifically overrides traditional notions of heritage,
which are often associated with a single cultural period (e.g. the Baroque period) or a defined political
or cultural entity (e.g. a national monument). The combined concept allows us to focus on the inter-
connection of different domains, temporalities and actors at different levels. Overcoming and reject-
ing hierarchies, grand narratives (Lyotard, 1979) and fixed categories offers an escape from the
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 3

traditional dichotomies. The emergence of the trans, the plural and the augmented enables us to
frame a critical perspective on heritage constructs.
Originating from the language of biology, the term ‘hybridisation’ refers to the natural or artificial
crossbreeding of two different species, breeds or varieties of plants or animals (see e.g. Schwenk et al.,
2008). It has been used figuratively by researchers in different fields to express the state of something
that has a disparate and surprising composition. In the social sciences literature, for example,
‘hybridisation’ is commonly associated with a reflection on modern or postmodern conditions
and expressions (Boutinet, 2016; Hernandez & Marti, 2006) and is used to shed light on new
forms of culture and identity (Appadurai, 2014; Canclini, 1990; Pieterse, 1994; Rubdy & Alsagoff,
2013). In the field of geography, Claval (2016) referred to the term as a means to describe the epis-
temic change in normative frames that the science of territory had been experiencing since the 1990s,
and Vanier (2016) used the term in the sense of an innovative process that helps individuals over-
come traditional rules and critical situations. Hence, hybridisation becomes part of a territory’s
characteristic, thus contributing to its own particular identity.
Heritage hybridisation can be understood in this sense. From an ethics perspective, it can
be associated with the emergent conditions of new heritage governance regimes (Paquette,
2012), such as the opening up of the expertise process to local know-how. Moreover, heritage’s
specific position at the intersection of an imaginary past and a reinvented present generates the con-
ditions required for its hybridisation. Heritage hybridisation is thus very much linked to social and
cultural practices, knowledge exchanges and the functions, values and meanings that heritage
conveys.

A weapon against dominant perspectives?

Heritage hybridisation has often been associated with a postcolonial perspective and the works
of postcolonialism theorists, such as Saïd (2004) and Bhabha (1997). Further, hybridity has
been viewed by several schools of thought as one of the main weapons against colonialism
(Andrade, 2013).
Contemporary international or former colonial heritage policies have been adapted according to
local political contexts (Bendix et al., 2013) and incorporated into local heritage vocabularies (Bon-
daz et al., 2014), which are traditionally depicted or designated as ‘indigenised’ (Sahlins, 1999). How-
ever, circulation must be regarded as a two- way process because while international norms are
‘exported’ to other contexts (e.g. former colonies), local conceptions of cultural heritages can, in
turn, influence the heritage policies pursued by national bodies and international organisations.
Moreover, the internationalisation of heritage standards leads to a redefinition of artistic practices
not only as ‘heritage’ but also as economic resources that are potentially transferable within the fra-
mework of the cultural and creative industries and tourism sites. These issues are directly related to
tourism since they are connected with the hybridised valorisation of heritage. In the context of for-
mer semi-colonies, hybridisation is key to understanding the heritage process in at least three differ-
ent registers (concept, restoration and valorisation).

Heritage concept
In a globalised world, circulation, mobility and international heritage norms impact heritage
definitions and contribute to producing (new) meanings for sites that would ultimately not have
been recognised by locals in a ‘classic’ bottom-up approach. Heritage narratives can mix values (cul-
tural, aesthetic, social) produced by both the local community and the stakeholders linked to the for-
mer colonialists. Although colonial heritage may be recognised as an essential part of a local/national
history, its heritagisation occurs in a complex, hybrid way through interconnected references, criteria
and values.
4 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

Heritage restoration
The restoration of a former colonial heritage is also characterised by hybridisation. For example,
international restoration norms, charts or doctrines are ‘interpreted’ locally with the result that
the choice of restoration materials or conventions may not strictly respect the original architectural
project. Hence, the restoration of a classical, art deco or modernist building in Tianjin will be the
hybrid product of Western architecture restored in a non- Western site, regardless of whether the
work is carried out by Western or local experts. In addition, despite the existence of international
restoration guidelines such as the Venice Charter, restoration also depends (often to a great extent)
on local materials, techniques and even value systems.

Heritage valorisation
Restored heritage frequently hosts functions (residential, commercial, cultural, touristic, etc.) that are
different from those for which it was initially built. Hybridisation also impacts the choice of these
new functions. Restored heritage may serve as a showcase for products and services that reference
the cultural and geographical context associated with the building’s architecture (e.g. an Italian res-
taurant in a former Italian concession).
An analysis of heritage hybridisation in Tianjin takes into consideration the fact that hybridis-
ation is often asymmetric. As Inda and Rosaldo (2008, p. 18)2 note: ‘There is a substantial asymmetry
in the flow of meaning in the world: the center mostly speaks, while the periphery listens.’ While
Tianjin offers an interesting context in which to analyse how Chinese spaces and practices are hybri-
dised with Western models and references, it is also possible to see how Western paradigms changed
and evolved in contact with China.

Materials and methods

This research draws on two empirical works. The first one was conducted during a PhD thesis from
2013 to 2017 (Lu, 2017). The second is a four years research conducted as part of the international
research project ‘Patrimondi,’ which was funded by the French National Research Agency and aimed
to explore the ways in which heritage dynamics interact with tourism mobility and global circulation
(of people, ideas, capital, images). Tianjin’s former concessions were one of the case studies that had
been investigated and compared. Looking at Tianjin’s, the findings and discussion are based on
qualitative methods carried out during eight fieldtrips (two to three weeks stay) between 2016
and 2019. During our different fieldstrips we conducted semi-structured interviews (Flick, 2014)
in Chinese with previously identified stakeholders (Maginn, 2004) in order to understand how
they looked at concessions and grapple with and practice heritage. Altogether it encompassed
more than twenty individuals among them developers, public authorities’ representatives, business
owners, scholars and conservation association members. Some of them we met several times which
allowed us to complete feedback on our research but also on projects that had developed overtime.
All interviews were transcribed and an inductive content analysis (Silverman, 2016) was conducted
in order to establish the salient features and values associated with the concessions and heritage. The
research was completed and triangulated by content analysis of official documents such as urban
plan, guidelines, urban and tourism strategies, collected during our fieldwork, non-intrusive spatial
observations of the concessions and its different developments.

Results and discussion

Circulation of models and production of space in the former Tianjin concessions
‘Colonial’ construction activities and regulations (such as planning and construction management)
within treaty ports is a complex affair and require more research. However, it is generally accepted
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 5

that the management systems, development operations, land use, planning and building codes fol-
lowed a colonial model in China (Chen et al., 2017). For example, Hong Kong’s urban planning
system directly drew on the British model (Home, 2013) and, in turn, influenced the rest of the
Chinese port cities. The concessions in Tianjin followed a basic planning model. They were all
located on the riverfront to facilitate industrial activities and waterway transport, and they
were all based on uniform narrow land divisions and a regular road network to ensure land
use efficiency, with the main buildings (financial, offices, public buildings, etc.) concentrated
along the bund (Chen et al., 2017).
Tianjin represents a paradox for the East Asian concessions system because of the coexistence in
the city of nine foreign concessions between 1860 and 1945. Spatially, this setting represented more
than nine times the surface area of Tianjin’s old city and significantly impacted its former spatial
structure. Each country constructed its concession in Tianjin according to its own planning criteria
and architectural styles, reflecting and reproducing its traditions and characteristics. This produced a
miniature ‘transnational’ urban landscape. The following comment from FENG Jicai3 illustrates this
juxtaposition of space:
For the city of Tianjin, the most important story is that after 1840, the conflict between the East and the West
brought about changes (…). The city had been a completely Chinese city, but it became a Sino-Western city
after 1860.4

In addition, LU Hong, the deputy director of Tianjin’s Municipal Bureau of Land Resources and
Housing Administration, commented:
The early twentieth century heritage in Tianjin represents a transition from Chinese feudal society to moder-
nity, with the cultural collision and mixing and the introduction of Western civilisation forming a very particu-
lar culture.5

Construction work in the concessions followed the colonisers’ plans, architectural techniques and
cultures. This led to morphological organisations and architectural styles that differed from one con-
cession to the next. For example, the Italian concession adopted an Italian style, the British Wudadao
district opted for the modern international style, France preferred a French monumental classical
style and the Japanese concession used a more hybrid style comprising Japanese elements (Li,
2010). This momentum in Tianjin’s history is particularly interesting. These turbulent cultural
encounters established a hybridisation framework in which the authenticity regime of the conces-
sions was interpreted differently by the Chinese locals, and vice-versa, leading to a mixing of valor-
isation and practices:
An important point to make is that the Chinese in the eyes of the West are not the Chinese in the eyes of the
Chinese, and the Westerners in the eyes of the Chinese are not the Westerners in the eyes of the West. This
cultural gap was particularly evident from 1900 to 1949. There were many conflicts at the time, and political,
economic and cultural misunderstandings were also a big problem. If we don’t understand these cultural mis-
understandings, it is difficult to make cultural exchanges.6

Tuscany in Tianjin: the architectural models of the Italian concession

Established in 1902, the Italian concession in Tianjin, which comprised 28.5 hectares and approxi-
mately 200 buildings, was the only Italian concession in Asia. During its construction and develop-
ment, the then chief executive positioned the area as an original ‘Italian community’ with Tuscan-
style garden houses forming a large Italian complex outside of Italy (Li, 2010). At the time, the con-
cession was a showcase for the Italian way of life, satisfying the objective needs and subjective expec-
tations of the Italian expatriates and reflecting the ideology of the Italian government’s attempt to
establish an ‘imagined motherland’ in Tianjin (Marinelli, 2009). The large-scale construction activi-
ties in the Italian concession were completed in the 1910s and 1920s. The building regulations of this
period were designed to eliminate the original Chinese morphological identity and replace it with
6 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

Western features (Marinelli, 2010a). This is clearly reflected in the new road names and the construc-
tion style. The footprint of the Chinese town’s pre-existing main road was nevertheless retained.
For instance, the streets were named after famous Italian figures, such as Marco Polo, Matteo
Ricci and Vittorio Emanuele III, and locations were named after Italian cities, like Roma and Firenze
(Figure 1). Unlike other foreign concessions, however, there was little productive activity within the
Italian concession, which was primarily positioned as a luxury residential area.
The city officials insisted that the appearance of the buildings should follow the Italian style. The
Italian concession issued the first building code in 1907, which stated:
All buildings facing the main road must be built in a European style and can only be inhabited by Europeans
with superior status and fame or by senior Chinese officials with the permission of the Italian consul. Semi-
European style houses may be built in other areas of the concession. (Li, 2007, translated from Chinese)

‘Semi-European style’ meant a mixture of the two architectural cultures, as exemplified by MENG
Yangxuan’s former residence:
Inside the district are some prestigious buildings that belonged to the Chinese during the first half of the 1910s,
such as the residence of silk merchant MENG Yangxuan. This type of Sino-Italian architecture is marked by a
unique Chinese- style layout, which is combined with materials and decorative elements from the European
style. (Cardano & Porzio, 2004, p. 34, translated from Italian)

In 1913, a second building code stipulated that such buildings could only be built on the periphery
of the concession, while the 1924 plan completely banned semi-European style buildings (Cardano &
Porzio, 2004). The Italian concession became a ‘showcase’ for Italian art, with its imported ‘decorat-
ing and building materials from the motherland’ (Cardano & Porzio, 2004; cited in Marinelli, 2009,
p. 411).

Architectural modernity and international style in the Wudadao district, the former British
concession
The Wudadao district, which today hosts the city’s most affluent population, comprised 130 hec-
tares, 22 streets and more than 2,000 buildings and was constructed during the 1920s and 1930s
(Figure 2). It represented the main section of the third extension of the British concession, which
dated from 1903. Henry McClure Anderson (1876–1842), a famous British architect and engineer,
drew up the plans for the area in 1918. Its urban design and morphological setting were strongly
influenced by the garden city concepts that prevailed in Western countries at the time. The high-
end residential road network (containing houses with gardens), land division and architectural lay-
out were similar to those of Anderson’s hometown, The Grange, a leafy suburb in the south side of
Edinburgh’s old town (Chen et al., 2017).
Anderson’s plans drew on Western concepts of health and sanitation, fluid mobility, orderly
arrangement, and so on and pursued zoning and architectural control ideas. The concession was
equipped with facilities such as schools, churches, parks and playgrounds, providing a pleasant
and comfortable living environment. While the houses were modelled on the international style typi-
cal of the time, it is also possible to find constructions that are European classical, renaissance or
eclectic in style combined with Chinese styles such as those exemplified by Qingwang Fu (Palace
of Prince Qing) and the former residence of BAO Guiqin.7

Heritage interventions in the former concessions

After the departure of the foreign representatives, Chinese government officials and the employees of
state-owned enterprises inhabited the concessions. However, the buildings deteriorated following the
Cultural Revolution (1966 and 1976) and then the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. Although these his-
toric districts were protected as cultural heritage in the early 1980s, this provided only temporary
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 7

Figure 1. Land division in the Italian concession, 1905. Source: ASDMAE, Serie Politica P Cina 1891-1916, b.426, cited in Quaglia
(2012, p. 43).

protection with little power over the urban landscape’s transformation. The re-opening of China in
the 1980s encouraged scientific and professional exchanges, and international urban expertise was
reintroduced into China. Foreign institutions were seeking to implement development programmes
to highlight their national expertise and promote the opening of new markets. In terms of urban
planning and development, the number of official visits by foreign state delegations rose (Henriot,
2015).
Power concerning the protection and development of Tianjin’s historic neighbourhoods and
buildings remained highly centralised, both administratively and operationally. At the beginning
of the twenty-first century, the Tianjin municipality set up its own heritage conservation plan, draw-
ing on the plan that had been developed by city officials in Shanghai with the help of French experts.8
Although Tianjin had been defined as a historical and cultural city in 1987, the municipality only had
twenty-eight nationally important cultural properties (out of a total 4296 in China). Tianjin’s
Municipal Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Administration decided to create its own classifi-
cation and conservation system. In the early 2000s, a study initiated by the French ministry of infra-
structure and conducted by architects and urban planners commented on the concessions’ rich
urban and architectural designs (Chauffert-Yvart, 2006). Following an information-gathering trip
to France, the deputy director of the Municipal Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Adminis-
tration, LU Hong, developed a policy of heritage inventory and conservation:
We learned a lot in France. For example, conservation guidance plans (windows, materials, etc.) have been
drawn up for all historic buildings in Tianjin. We also wanted to replicate the heritage architect system, but
we don’t have enough power.9

From 2005 onwards, there was an acceleration of the heritage process in the concessions. Between
2005 and 2013, the municipality published 7 lists, defining 877 historic buildings covering a total of
8 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

Figure 2. The Wudadao area in Tianjin. Source: Accessed February 24, 2019. http://www.tjwudadao.com/gs.html.

more than 1.2 million square metres. Approximately 90% of the historic buildings were located in the
former concessions (according to our calculations). In 2006, the Tianjin ‘master plan’ defined nine
protected historical and cultural sites and five protected cultural and historical areas. In 2011, these
were merged into a total of fourteen historical and cultural districts (in this case, streets or neigh-
bourhoods with distinctive architectural styles), eleven of which are located in the former conces-
sions (Figure 3).

The renovation of the former Italian concession: Sino-Italian cooperation

While the renovation of the Italian concession was a local government initiative, the process would
not have been completed without the help of Italian experts. Between 1999 and 2000, a group of
Tianjin municipality representatives, assisted by the Italian Embassy in China, made a number of
information-gathering trips to Italy. Because of Tianjin’s importance as North China’s economic
centre and its potential for tourism development, the planned renovation of the Italian concession
had attracted the attention of a number of Italian regional authorities (Discepolo, 2006).
In March 2004, a final plan (whose title translates as ‘conservation and renovation plan for the
Italian-style protected area’), was created by the Tianjin Architecture Design Institute (TADI)
under the guidance of the Italian architectural firm Gregotti e Associati. The promulgation of this
plan marked the real starting point for the vast architectural rehabilitation of this district (Discepolo,
2006).
Two main objectives can be identified in the plan’s recommendations. One concerned the reha-
bilitation of heritage buildings with the aim of restoring their ‘original’ appearance. The plan thus
contained a list of the buildings that were to be protected and restored. There was a supplementary
inventory of other buildings ‘to preserve or to rebuild’ using different treatments. The second main
objective concerned the fact that this renovation should be flexible so as not to block future construc-
tions in the surrounding areas, which was reflected in the definition of hierarchical areas.
Most of the renovation work on the former Italian concession was undertaken by the Chinese
company Flight (Flight Decoration Designing Engineering Co. Ltd.) in partnership with the Italian
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 9

company Sirena Città Storia, which was experienced in the restoration of architectural heritage.10
The architect who founded Sirena, Bruno Discepolo, undertook the coordination of the project.
This was the first time that the Tianjin municipality had invited foreign experts to participate in
an urban rehabilitation project (Zhong, 2009). Sirena also mobilised Benecon, the Center of Experts
on Cultural Heritage of the Campania Region (Gambardella, 2005, p. 49).
Sirena initiated a first collaboration with the Tianjin municipality for the rehabilitation of the Ita-
lian neighbourhood in October 2004. The operation was preceded by a diagnostic survey of the
damaged or modified twentieth century villas and buildings. Sirena’s first contract with the Chinese
interlocutors was to define the methods and criteria for the rehabilitation programmes of two his-
toric buildings (Discepolo, 2007, p. 44). The building analysis methods comprised samples that
were analysed to identify the materials and construction techniques used and a database of docu-
ments, photographs and old graphics (often incomplete) (Carrelli, 2006, p. 130). This survey led
to the drafting of a ‘manual for the recovery and restoration of buildings in the former Italian con-
cession’11 between 2005 and 2006.
Sirena, along with its Flight partner, oversaw the restoration of the facades of twenty houses and
two public buildings as well as the redevelopment of the main streets in the former concession. The
company also developed the works schedule and restoration techniques protocol (Carrelli, 2006,
127). At the municipality’s request, Sirena went on to train local construction workers and to act
as a consultant and quality control inspector for various other restoration projects in the area
(Como, 2006, p. 111).

Figure 3. Historic architecture and districts in Tianjin. Source: Yue Lu (2017).

10 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

However, this renovation project in the former Italian concession was not without its obstacles.
The Italian experts pointed out the difficulty of reaching a consensus on ‘Italian style.’ The Chinese
interlocutors had insisted from the outset on the need to scrupulously respect the term ‘Italian style’
(Discepolo, 2007). For them, this meant not the preservation of a representative sample of Italian
culture or civilisation but rather the revival of an external appearance that would be considered
sufficiently representative of an ‘ideal Italian style’ (I- Style) (Discepolo, 2007, p. 45). In other
words, ‘restoration’ in this particular Chinese context essentially meant giving the buildings a new
‘old-style’ façade (Lu, 2010).
The urban rehabilitation experience in the Italian concession was representative of what might be
called ‘facadism.’ What was considered important here was to maintain the facade or external
appearance of the historic architecture, whose superficial meaning was considered sufficient to con-
vey a feeling of ‘I-Style’ (Marinelli, 2010b).
In October 2006, the restoration work was almost complete. Sixty-six buildings covering a total
area of approximately 130,000 square metres had been renovated or rebuilt. In 2007, the main infra-
structure was finalised, the pavements were constructed, the streetlamps were installed and the trees
were planted (Li, 2011, p. 102). The district had been cleaned up, rehabilitated and re-classified
according to the 2006 plan’s tourism and cultural area function designation.12
In 2008, the former Italian concession was presented as the ‘Italian scenic district’ [Yishi fengqing
qu] or Italian Business Park, and, in 2009, it was rebranded as the ‘New I- Style Town’ [Xin Yi Jie]
(Marinelli, 2010b). On Tianjin’s tourism bureau’s official website, this ‘New I-Style Town’ was pre-
sented as ‘the only Italian-style picturesque neighbourhood in Asia’ and promoted as a successful
example of enhancing exotic heritage ‘enabling you to discover Italy without ever leaving China.
(Figure 4)’
As LI Yunfei mentioned in one interview, the Italian experts’ influence had spread beyond the
Italian concession:

Figure 4. The former Italian concession after the renovation. Source: Photo taken by Yue LU in 2015.
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 11

The Italian experts participated in the design and renovation of some 20 buildings. After they left, our company
renovated about forty buildings according to their methods and concepts. Then we carried out more projects
under the Italian leadership. But I think their methods and concepts have influenced the restoration work in
other concessions.13

Creative developments in the Wudadao district

Despite the ostensible ‘separation of government and business’ in the 1990s in China, most of the
largest tour operators and travel agencies were affiliated with the government services and were
often headed by former or current officials (Nyiri, 2009, p. 163). In keeping with this stance, the
city’s government created the Tianjin Historical Architecture Restoration and Development Co.,
Ltd. (THARD) in 2005. THARD is a public agency that receives full support and funding from
the municipal government. Its main aims are to manage and develop historic districts in Tianjin
(Lu, 2010). As such, the local government and its agencies play an important role in shaping the her-
itage’s environment and landscape (Nyiri, 2009). As Tse-Kang Leng and Rung-Yi Chen (2017,, p.
191) note: ‘the striking feature of the Jukemaodi14 case is that THARD has become a player, not
just a regulator, in the operation of urban entrepreneurship and urban development.’ Four of its pro-
jects are presented briefly below.
In the Wudadao area, THARD began by renovating Minyuan Terrace, a group of modern British-
style two-storey buildings designed by the architect Shen Liyuan and built by the real estate developer
Ji’an in 1939 to house the employees of different companies. In 2006, this was turned into the Min-
yuan Terrace Cultural Creative Block with cafes, wine and cigar bars, fusion food, art galleries and a
museum of traditional Chinese art. The district also hosts different cultural activities (exhibitions,
concerts, etc.) (Debelle, 2015). This first project combining the creative industry with historical
buildings, where visitors and residents can experience history as well as a contemporary urban life-
style, has been promoted as a success story by the city’s government (Figure 5).

Figure 5. (a). Entrance to Minyuan Terrace (left) and (b) Interior of Minyuan Terrace (right). Source: Photo taken by Yue LU in 2016.
12 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

Figure 6. (a). Exterior of Shanyi Li boutique hotel (left) and (b). Interior of Shanyi Li boutique hotel (right). Source: Photo taken by
Yue Lu and Maria Gravari-Barbas in 2016.

Minyan Terrace project was followed by the restoration and transformation of the Qingwang Fu
complex, former house of the last Emperor’s uncle constructed in 1922.
THARD turned it into a luxury hotel (Gravari et al., 2020) (Figure 6(a,b)).
THARD also rehabilitated the Xiannong Courtyard in 2013 (Figure 7(a,b)), a 1925-built former
residence of employees of the first and largest foreign real estate firm to open in Tianjin, into a leisure
commercial area. In 2014 THARD inaugurated the flagship project of Wudadao: the 1926-built Min-
yuan stadium, demolished in 2012 was entirely rebuilt as a recreational, commercial and ‘cultural’
venue (Figure 8(a,b)) (Lu et al., 2019).
Restoration practices and regimes as observed at the four projects mentioned above (Minyuan
Terrace, Qingwang Fu complex, Xiannong Courtyard and Minyan stadium) defer greatly. For
instance, the Minyan stadium conserved its intangible aspects: the toponymy (Minyan stadium,
even if does not hold the function of a stadium anymore), the functional centrality, as well as its volu-
metry. Nothing was kept however from its material elements. It follows the Chinese tourist gaze as
depicted by Trevor et al. (2017) in the case of the city of Guilin which moves beyond the material and
captures invisibles, resting on a platform of Chinese common traditional knowledge such as Taoism
and Fen-shui. The authors explain that what is déterminant is the context of the existence in a shan-
shui landscape, based on their continuity and conformity with the history of urban settlement
founded on a deep and rich cultural heritage that stretches back for several thousand years, so
that the landscape is as much a social and cultural landscape as it is geophysical (2017, 242).

Figure 7. (a). Xiannong Block, phase I (left) and (b). Xiannong Block, phase II (right). Source: Photo taken by Yue LU in 2016.
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 13

Figure 8. (a). Minyuan Stadium in the daytime (left) and (b). Minyuan Stadium at night (right). Source: Photo taken by Maria Gra-
vari-Barbas in 2019.

The Qingwang Fu project, in the opposite, undergone a particularly meticulous and proudly
documented restoration which emphasises the universal principles of heritage conservation such
as authenticity, recognisability and reversibility. It also aims at the adaptation of material space to
new functional needs based on the value assessment (THARD, 2014). The Xinnong Courtyard stres-
ses the attention to preservation of the old structures while also incorporating contemporary design
features. It demonstrates (one can find explanatory panels in the open space) the know-how of Chi-
nese experts to incorporate and interpret the Western prescriptions set by ICOMOS, UNESCO and
other international agencies.

Valorisation and tourismification of the former concessions: Disneyfied city versus

creative city
In the early 2000s, Tianjin accelerated its tourism development through different promotion slogans
such as ‘new century, new Tianjin, new landscape.’ In addition, the festivities in 2004 associated with
the 600th anniversary of the city’s foundation resulted in a considerable increase in awareness among
government officials of the city’s positioning as a tourist destination. One attempt to raise the city’s
profile used the motto ‘Looking at the modern history of China through Tianjin,’ which led to the
designation of 12 tourist blocks, half of which are located in the old concessions. This new branding
focused on the specificity of the traces that had been left behind by modern history in Tianjin and the
city’s positioning as a tourism product. In the wake of these events, the city centre (especially the
former concession districts) became host to a number of creative and tourism project experiments,
which led to the area’s revitalisation and rehabilitation (Zhang, 2003).’
The city officials have sought to create new styles of urban and tourism landscapes by transform-
ing the ‘colonial’ culture. One of the ways in which they have done this is through reinterpreting the
modern buildings located in the concessions to differentiate them and create separate urban
‘enclaves.’ Thus, Tianjin’s tourism bureau proposed a segmentation of the former concession
zones according to the style of the countries that were at the origin of their construction. Another
way in which the city officials have transformed the ‘colonial’ culture is through the types of activities
available to visitors (shopping, restoration, culture, finance). The former concessions have been com-
pletely redefined. They are now seen as spaces that offer the same amenities as any other globalised
metropolis but organised in a typically Chinese way, that is one amenity type per zone. This redefi-
nition was a means for the Chinese authorities to re-territorialise this historic built legacy and pro-
mote Tianjin as a place with many ‘exotic architectural features.’
This is particularly the case with the Italian concession and the Wudadao district, which have
taken a different path in their planning and design development. The former Italian and British
concessions are today important tourism and leisure destinations for local, regional and national
14 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

visitors. According to Tianjin’s tourism bureau, the Italian district hosts an average of 15,000 visi-
tors per weekday and up to 20,000 per day during weekends.15 The Wudadao area received 96,000
visitors during the Spring Festival Holiday of 2018 (people.cn, 2018). These historic areas are dis-
tinguished from other touristic or consumption amenities (such as the shopping centres in more
ordinary urban contexts) by the hybridised approaches that characterised their restoration, reno-
vation and refunctionalisation. The inspiration for these approaches came from global models.
While the ‘I-Style Italian town’ tourism development patterns tended to assimilate the area to
a thematic enclave, the Wudadao district drew its referential inspiration from the paradigm of
the creative city.

The Disneyfication of the so-called ‘Western-style’ tourist districts

While the ancient Chinese neighbourhoods in the city of Tianjin have been almost completely
erased, the concession areas have been relatively well protected as historical and cultural districts.
However, the municipality’s interest in their conservation and classification is based not on the
semi-colonial heritage but rather on their Western appearance. These neighbourhoods have been
renovated and ‘thematised’ to characterise and reinforce the tourist destination image and the
city’s modern landscape, which displays the foreign styles. The main goal of this urban regeneration
was to erase the ‘colonial’ past and create new recreation spaces inspired by Western symbols
(especially on the banks of the Hai River).
This is the case with the Italian concession, which was promoted as a model of urban regeneration
in Tianjin. Other redevelopment projects were essentially inspired by the success of this ‘New I-Style
Town.’ These territories are no longer called ‘concessions.’ They have been relabelled, for example,
‘British Style Scenic District,’ ‘Rhine City’ and ‘Austrian Style Park.’
These tourist districts are similar to the phenomenon of ‘tourist bubbles’ or ‘urban enclaves’
(Judd, 1999) because they are organised according to a ‘theme’ in the same way that the Disney
theme parks are (Bryman, 2004).
The staging of these neighbourhoods is believed to reflect a Western scene, thus providing a sense
of exoticism for Chinese visitors. These artificial places offer tourists the opportunity to enjoy them-
selves in ‘exotic’ places without leaving China. The fact that they are former ‘colonial’ enclaves adds
prestige to these neighbourhoods for national visitors (Debelle, 2015, p. 401). This phenomenon of
Western simulacra is undoubtedly driven by the kind of globalisation that is described as ‘time–space
compression’ (Harvey, 1989), a socio- spatial process of simultaneous homogenisation and differen-
tiation involving convergences between forces at global level and specific factors at local level (Chang
et al., 1996; Su & Teo, 2010).

Towards a creative city?

Since the beginning of the 2000s, cultural and creative industry clusters have become popular with
the public authorities in China (Keane, 2011). In 2005, the cultural and creative industries were
identified as a promising economic sector by the Chinese Communist Party (O’Connor & Xin,
2006). Many English-language manuals on the creative industries and territorial development
have been translated into Chinese and have contributed to the circulation of ‘good practice’ in plan-
ning development (Keane, 2011). Since Tianjin published the ‘Tianjin cultural industry revitalisation
plan’ in 2006, the city has seen a revival of cultural activities, such as the creation of a number of
cultural and creative districts (Hu, 2012) and ‘Tianjin design week,’ the brainchild of LI Yunfei
(Flight), who tried to maintain relations with the Italian experts while setting up the event.
Chongqing Street, one of the five avenues in the Wudadao district, is a favourite spot for new
‘creative’ initiatives with outlets, for example, for microbreweries, fashion designers, galleries,
coffee roasters, restaurants and design booths (Figure 9). Chongqing Street is also located on the Brit-
ish concession visitor’s tour.
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 15

Figure 9. (a). Entrance of Nasca Linien Private Room boutique (left) and (b). Interior of Nasca Linien Private Room boutique (right).
Source: Photo taken by Yue LU in 2016.

According to the interview data, Wudadao has become a destination for local and regional inhabi-
tants seeking an attractive urban setting that offers a number of cultural and recreational amenities.
Research studies have emphasised an element of interaction in some of the Western urban neigh-
bourhoods (historic centres, ‘creative’ neighbourhoods or regenerated waterfronts) between the
tourists and the locals (Maintland, 2007). Tianjin’s former concession neighbourhoods, which attract
both tourists and locals, are emerging as a laboratory for these tourism and leisure practices and
experiences in China.
More generally, hybridisation relates to the redevelopment paradigms adopted in the former Ita-
lian and British concessions. As the sole funder of its rehabilitation works, Tianjin must find business
models that work and are profitable. Despite the idea of a planned economy (communism), THARD
undertakes market studies before embarking on projects.
The overall inspiration for the ‘New I-Style Town’ development can be linked to an urban the-
matic tourism enclave, entirely dedicated to leisure and tourism. Wudadao, by contrast, draws its
inspiration from the Western ‘creative city’ paradigm. As a residential area, Wudadao is attractive
to the middle-class creative classes, who want to return to the city centre and inhabit the renovated
modernist two- and three-storey houses.
The redevelopment and refunctionalisation of these two areas therefore relate to the nature of
their architecture and their urban setting and introduces hybrid approaches in terms of local prac-
tices, lifestyles and the activities proposed to visitors.

Conclusion
The international former concessions in Tianjin appear to be a particularly rich context for the study
of the hybridised production, reproduction and reuse of an urban space and its subsequent herita-
gisation. While the aim of the Western governments in question was to reproduce, on foreign soil,
small-scale models of their own countries, the end product was ultimately the result of a very subtle
hybridisation. For example, a British mansion in Tianjin may have been designed by a British archi-
tect, but it was built using local materials and workers and was furnished, at least in part, with local
furniture.
It’s a trace of men. Even the concession a sign of humiliation, that reflects the cultural exchange.16

Hybridisation is the outcome of all utopian colonial endeavours. The more the original project
aimed to represent a ‘perfect’ British garden city or an ‘ideal’ Italian town, the more interesting
the resulting hybridisation is.
16 M. GRAVARI-BARBAS ET AL.

Moreover, the recent restoration of the former concessions has reactivated this hybridisation pro-
cess. This time, however, the hybridisation has occurred not as a result of the imperialistic decisions
of former ‘colonial’ states but of the will of the former ‘colonised’ state’s decision makers (national,
regional, local):
Our knowledge of Western heritage has gradually evolved. It used to be a sign of humiliation. But now our
country is more powerful than before, we are more confident in ourselves, so even if it evokes a painful memory,
we have become aware that it is of value to China.17

While the hybridised character of the former concessions has become a marketable feature and a
sellable distinctive identity, hybridisation is not a totally controlled process. For example, while the
creation of a place such as ‘Cinema Paradiso’ in the Italian concession clearly takes advantage of the
location to produce an Italian-themed multifunctional area, hybridisation also occurs through non-
planned channels, such as through interactions between national and international stakeholders
(architects, designers, furniture designers, local construction companies, etc.). It also results from
crosscutting approaches to restoration norms and doctrines and clearly underlines the limitations
of such so-called international doctrines.
Hybridisation is both the prerequisite for and outcome of heritagisation. Heritagisation implies
the appropriation of an artefact, and this appropriation occurs through the hybridisation process,
in other words through the cultural and political translation of the former concession’s heritage
into a local heritage. Moreover, hybridisation that is produced through physical interventions
(rebuilding, restoration, refunctionalisation) as well as through affective, aesthetic and cultural pro-
cesses results in a heritagisation process.
The relatively recent heritagisation of Tianjin’s former concessions shows how this (‘given’ or
even ‘imposed’) heritage has been turned into a Chinese cultural heritage through the coproduction
by Chinese actors of a hybrid space (through its rebuilding and restoration) and a new storytelling
that resituates the former concessions within China’s national and globa"l history (Singaravélou,
2017).

Notes
1. A concession is an area within one country that is administered by another. It is usually conceded by a weaker
country to a stronger country. Concessions in China existed during the late Imperial China and the Republic of
China (between 1840s and 1940s), which were governed and occupied by foreign powers, and are frequently
associated with colonialisam, or semi-colonialism, more precisely.
2. Paraphrasing Hannerz (1992, 219).
3. FENG Jicai, a writer, painter and founder of the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art at Tianjin University,
is a prominent intellectual in Tianjin.
4. Interview with the author, July 2017, translated from Chinese.
5. Interview with the author, October 2016, translated from Chinese.
6. FENG Jicai. Interview with the author, July 2017, translated from Chinese.
7. BAO Guiqing, 1867–1934, Beiyang government warlord.
8. XU Subin, Professor of Architectural History at Tianjin University. Interview with the author, August 2018.
9. Interview with the author, 2016, translated from Chinese.
10. LI Yunfei, founder and CEO of Flight. Interview with the author, August 2017.
11. Translated from the original Italian, ‘Manuale per il recupero e la rifunzionalizzazione degli edifici del quartiere
italiano’.
12. ZHANG Xiaopeng, assistant professor at the School of Architecture, Tianjin University. Interview with the
author, August 2017.
13. Interview with the author, August 2017, translated from Chinese.
14. Tourism hotspot project in Wudadao, aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of the area.
15. As of November 28, 2019, Tianjin’s Tourism Bureau listed these figures on its website: http://en.tjtour.cn/
scenic/index/1505ItalianStyleTown.html
16. LU Hong. Interview with the author, October 2016, translated from Chinese.
17. See note 16.
 JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 17

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding
This work was supported by the research project ‘Patrimondi,’ which was funded by the French National Research
Agency and directed by Maria Gravari-Barbas. It aimed to explore the ways in which heritage dynamics interact
with tourism mobility and global circulation (of people, ideas, capital, images).

Notes on contributors
Maria Gravari-Barbas holds a degree in Architecture and Urban Design (University of Athens, 1985) and a PhD in
Geography and Planning (Paris-Sorbonne University, 1991). She was a fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
USA (1990). She is the Director of the EIREST (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Tourism). She is the coordinator
of the UNESCO Chair ‘Tourism, Culture, Development’ of the University of Paris 1 Pantheon- Sorbonne and the coor-
dinator of the UNITWIN network of the same name. Her interests focus on the relationship of heritagisation of urban
spaces with other social transformations such as touristification, gentrification or aestheticisation.
Sandra Guinand is an urban planner and urban geographer. She is a lecturer at the Institute of geography and regional
research at the University of Vienna and associate researcher of EIREST (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Tour-
ism). She holds a PhD in geography from Paris 1-Sorbonne University and in geosciences and environment from Lau-
sanne University. Her research interests focus on urban regeneration projects, socio-economic transformations of
urban landscape, with a specific focus on heritage processes, public-private partnerships and tourism.
Yue Lu is architect, urban planner, holding a PhD in human geography. She is researcher at IRCAHC (International
Research Center for Architectural Heritage Conservation), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and associate researcher at
EIREST (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Tourism), University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her interests focus
on heritagisation, touristification and physical-social transformation of historic areas, with a specific focus on foreign
themed space in former concessions in China.

ORCID
Maria Gravari-Barbas http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7821-9473
Sandra Guinand http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6676-7982
Yue Lu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1194-3955

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