Architecture in these towns maintains the same attributes as that of the main Chinese architectural systems: open, wood structure, big roof, enclosed courtyard. The unique character of the architecture in these area (south-east China) is the towering side walls. These walls were built to avoid burgury and fire. Height and decoration of these side walls have become a symbol which shows the wealth of the household. The exquisite wood sculpture on beams, doors, windows are agreed as an irreplacable art. Walking on the streets, you can look through peoples' living rooms and see the river on the other side( if the front gate is open). In each house, there're balconies looking over the river and stone steps down to the river.
There're two ways of preservation for these old towns, one way is trying to preserve original living patterns( such as Tongli). The other is to only preserve building forms, then fill these forms with new functions such as dinning, exhibition and tourists accomodation(such as Wuzhen). In some successfully preserved towns, such as Tongli, these two ways of preservation was combined.
However, it's not that there's not any problems in the preservation process. With the change of living patterns, more and more young people are moving into newer areas, these old towns are gradually losing populations; With the temptation of more income and better living condition, these heritages are threatened by demolition and new construction; With the growth of tourism and commercial functions, these towns are facing serious issues such as polution. Architectural and legal actions are taken into effects in some towns/villges. As I know, the village of Wooyuan share 3% profit of tourism income with all the village residents, encouraging committment to preservation.
