In the evening of Dec 10th, 2008, 3rd WHITR-AP Conservation Forum was held at WHITR-AP (Shanghai). The topic of this forum is “A Tale of Two Cities----Heritage Preservation of Beijing VS Shanghai”. Representatives from universities and Shanghai government sectors attended the forum. The guests are Mr. WANG Jun, Senior Journalist of Xinhua News agency and author of City Records and Professor SUN Shiwen from College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji Univ. They discussed the heritage preservation in Beijing and Shanghai, which was heated and constructive.

This forum was chaired by Dr. LI Xin, the Unit Director of WHITR-AP (Shanghai). From the Prospective of a journalist in Beijing, WANG Jun illustrated the influence of present system, especially property right, on heritage protection with the case of Beijing’s quadrangle. His humorous remarks frequently won the audience’s warm applause. As a native Shanghainese, Prof. SUN talked about the conflict between heritage protection and modern housing needs. Moreover, he further explained the problems in Shanghai’s ancient lane protection theoretically.


In the following interactive session, the two guests brilliantly answered the questions on development of non-government protection organization, evaluation of National Grand Theater, revelation of historic information of property rights patiently, which is warmly welcomed by the audience. At last, guests, staff members and volunteers of WHITR-AP (Shanghai) took a photo all-together, ending this forum perfectly. (For the Spring Festival, the 2009 1st forum (the 4th forum) would be on March, 2009.)