OLD TOWN PROTECTION: Shangli, an old town located along an ancient tea-horse road inside Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province, is popular for its beautiful mountain and river scenery, as well as well-preserved century-old architecture (ORIENTAL MORNING POST)

Cracks appeared in some century-old architecture in Ya'an City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, but the ancient "firm-standing houses" remain standing following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Lushan County on April 20.

From the perspective of disaster prevention and reduction of ancient cities, regular maintenance and reparation should be made in a scientific way for both the century-old architecture and ordinary houses built after the 1950s. Protection of ancient cities themselves is of disaster reduction significance, said an expert at a seminar recently held in Shanghai.

The fact that some century-old architecture suffered minimal damage during the Lushan earthquake should be attributed to China's traditional use of wood in building structures, said Ruan Yisan, professor at Shanghai Tongji University's College of Architecture and Planning. Ruan, also an ancient city preservation expert, added that these old buildings netizens dubbed "firm-standing houses" were all built with wooden load-bearing structures.

Ruan introduced that Chinese timber structure itself has a nature of tenacity. The architectural technique adopts the following three steps of working procedure: Erecting vertical posts, putting up horizontal crossbeams and then laying brick walls. Tenons connect the load-bearing posts and beams, forming "strength reams" in three to six directions, like human joints. When earthquake occurs, they permit a small margin of movement in different directions thus reducing structural damage.

Experts suggested that following the aftershock in Ya'an area, investigation of the damaged architecture in old towns and villages should be made as soon as possible, so as to conduct timely maintenance and repairs.

Combined with earthquake situation, Ruan suggested that related experts should again conduct comprehensive exploration of local ancient architecture and old towns, and scientifically formulate effective repair plans to optimize protection and restoration of ancient buildings.

(Source: Ningxia Daily)