On the green Gulangyu Island, there is a red domed building that stands out.
This building with a history of more than 110 years is called Bagua Tower, which is one of the landmarks of Gulangyu Island. In those years, Comrade Xi Jinping reversed the fate of this century-old building during his work in Xiamen.
Bagua Tower is located at the northeast foot of Bijia Mountain in the northeast of Gulangyu Island, overlooking Xiamen Port. Photo by Xu Qiuheng
Built in 1907, the Bagua Building was used as a capacitor factory building after the 60s of the 20th century. In 1983, the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government decided to build a museum here. At that time, the Bagua Building was cut into "Pansi Cave" by 3 units, and more than 10 families lived in the basement.
One day in 1986, Xi Jinping, then a member of the Standing Committee of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and deputy mayor, had just finished a report on Gulangyu Island, and when he walked out of the hall, Gong Jie, then director of the Xiamen Museum and in charge of the restoration of the Bagua Building, stopped him.
"Comrade Deputy Mayor, please visit the Bagua Building."
"Okay!"
Xi Jinping came to the Bagua Building and walked around the courtyard.
Gong Jie said, "There is also upstairs. ”
"I know what you mean." Xi Jinping said immediately.
Xi Jinping walked into the building, climbed the stairs, and with each step, the old floor slabs creaked, and the roof leaked for a long time left yellow-brown mold stains. There were children running by, and the floor shook.
"How much is missing?" Xi Jinping asked as he walked.
"300,000 yuan."
"I'll get it tomorrow."
At that time, Xiamen needed development everywhere and there was a shortage of funds everywhere. For the maintenance of the Bagua Building, Xiamen City raised 500,000 yuan in the early days, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated 480,000 yuan, but it was soon insufficient. Therefore, the 300,000 yuan approved by Xi Jinping solves the urgent need for restoration work and is very precious.
Gulangyu Island is known as the "Museum of International Architecture", and the Bagua Tower, as a national key cultural relics protection unit, is one of the core elements of Gulangyu World Cultural Heritage. Photo by Yang Jinjian
With the support of this funding, the Bagua Building was reborn after renovation. Since 2005, the main building of Bagua Building has been open to the outside world as the Gulangyu Organ Museum, receiving more than 500,000 visitors per year.
A good governance that is sustained.
From protecting a building to cherishing an island, from building a city to leading a nation...... Over the years, Xi Jinping has remained steadfast in his original intention of protecting the historical context, and has always attached great importance to his precious heritage.
On July 8, 2017, "Gulangyu: A Historical International Community" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List. Among them, Bagua Tower, as one of the core elements of the Gulangyu World Cultural Heritage, has been highly praised by the United Nations World Heritage Protection Experts.
Glad to hear that Gulangyu Island was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, Xi Jinping made important instructions: the application for the World Heritage is to better protect and utilize, summarize successful experience, learn from international concepts, improve the long-term mechanism, carefully protect the cultural heritage left by the ancestors, and let the historical context be better inherited. (Peng Xiaoling)
丨Source丨People's Daily Online-Communist Party of China News Network
丨Production丨Pingliang Rong Media Center
丨Audit丨Feng Yuqiang, Liu Jie
丨Editor丨Wu Peng