On the green Gulangyu Island, there is a red dome building.
This 110 year old building, called Bagua Tower, is one of the landmarks of Gulangyu. In that year, Comrade Xi Jinping reversed the fate of this century old building in this way during his work in Xiamen.
Bagua Tower is located at the north foot of Bijia Mountain in the northeast of Gulangyu Island, overlooking Xiamen Port. Photographed by Xu Qiuheng
The Bagua Building, built in 1907, was used as a capacitor factory building after the 1960s. In 1983, the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and the Xiamen Municipal Government decided to build a museum here. At that time, the Bagua Building was cut into "Pansi Cave" by three 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 Vice Mayor, had just made a report on Gulangyu, and when he walked out of the hall, Gong Jie, then the curator of the Xiamen Museum and responsible for the restoration of the Bagua Building, stopped him.
"Comrade Vice Mayor, please visit the Bagua Tower."
"Good!"
Xi Jinping came to the Bagua Building and walked around the courtyard.
Gong Jie said, "And upstairs."
"I know what you mean," Xi Jinping said immediately.
Xi Jinping walked into the building and climbed up the stairs. Every step, the old floor creaked and the roof leaked for a long time, leaving behind yellow brown mildew stains. A child ran past, and the floor shook.
"How much is missing?" Xi Jinping asked as he walked.
"300000 yuan."
"Come and get it tomorrow."
At that time, Xiamen wanted to develop everywhere and lacked funds everywhere. For the maintenance of the Bagua Building, Xiamen raised 500000 yuan in the early stage and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated 480000 yuan, but it soon ran out of money. Therefore, the 300000 yuan approved by Xi Jinping has solved the urgent need of restoration work, which is very precious.
Kulangsu is known as a "museum of architecture of all countries". As a national key cultural relics protection unit, Bagua Tower is one of the core elements of Kulangsu's world cultural heritage. Photographed by Yang Jinjian
With the support of this fund, Bagua Building was reborn after renovation. Since 2005, the main building of Bagua Building has been opened to the outside world as Gulangyu Organ Museum, receiving more than 500000 tourists annually.
A good government should be persevered.
From protecting a building to cherishing an island, from building a city to leading a country …… Over the years, Xi Jinping has unswervingly guarded the historical context and attached importance to the precious heritage as always.
On July 8, 2017, "Gulangyu: Historical International Community" was successfully included in the World Heritage List. Among them, Bagua Tower, as one of the core elements of Kulangsu's world cultural heritage, was highly praised by the United Nations world heritage protection experts.
Having heard of the success of Kulangsu's application for the World Heritage, Xi Jinping made an important instruction: the purpose of applying for the World Heritage is to better protect and utilize the successful experience, learn from international concepts, improve the long-term mechanism, carefully protect the cultural heritage left by the old ancestors, and better inherit the historical context.
