Zhengding

This weekend I visited Zhengding, a town located in the central China plain, just fourteen kilometers north of the Hebei capital Shijiazhuang. Nevertheless, Zhengding feels like a town in the countryside, far removed from the modernity of Shijiazhuang. I would estimate that massive development only began here a few years ago. In the north part of the city, four massive apartment buildings were under construction. A couple of other apartment buildings have been completed, along with a mall. I'm not entirely sure what the main industry is here, apart from tourism.

Happily for the town’s historical preservation, the massive development is quite removed from the old quarter. Development is so limited in this part of the city, that farmland is still present within the walls. Even so, there was actually very little that was actually ‘old’ in the old town, apart from the pagodas and temples. The main street in the old town was built in old style, but none of the buildings were really that old, including the dwellings in the many hutongs. Unlike the beautiful courtyard houses in Beijing, these hutongs had ugly brick houses. The city wall has not been pulled down, but is crumbling away.

I saw three other foreigners in the time I was there, but Zhengding still has a lot of work to do to make the city friendlier to tourism. It felt more like a frontier town than a real city. Pains should be made to beautify the surrounding hutong neighborhoods, and not build ugly modern buildings. Better hotels should be built that are up to international standards.

The historical sights within the city are very well-preserved though. Perhaps a few halls could be reconstructed to create an actual temple with worshipers. The Kaiyuan Temple, in particular cries out for a reconstruction of its two destroyed halls. Having a living, breathing temple with monks and incense creates a better atmosphere than a sterile historical site. This can be seen in the comparative popularity of the Longxing temple over all the other sites, despite its higher admission cost. I think Zhengding has a lot of potential to become a premier tourist attraction, but more work needs to be done to beautify the city and expand tourist’s amenities.