The 4,400-square-meter green area of the Donghu Hotel, which used to be enclosed within walls, is now open to the public. — All photos by Wang Rongjiang

The Hengshan-Fuxing Road Cultural-Historical Area boasts a large number of well-preserved historic buildings and neighborhoods in downtown Shanghai.

The 4.3-square-kilometer area in Xuhui District has over 1,600 historic buildings, most of which are listed as protected structures.

To better preserve the cultural heritage, Xuhui District government launched a major renovation on these buildings in 2013. The first round of the preservation work is expected to finish by the end of 2018.

A total of 1 million square meters of historic buildings will be restored to their original status by then, according to the district’s housing bureau. Over 300 historic buildings on Hengshan and Fuxing roads will be restored by the end of this year, with many original decorations to be revived.

To ensure the historic structures are properly restored, the district has collected and cataloged a number of traditional construction skills, many of which were brought to the city by Western architects early last century.

The district has also revived traditional bamboo spear fences on some streets of the historic area.

The fencing, made of interlocked bamboo pieces, was once a common sight, but was gradually replaced by iron fences or walls.