This is Roundtable.
Older cities are facing some new questions because preserving buildings and streets is no longer enough.
Across China, historic neighborhoods are turning into living spaces
where people do not just observe the past, but experience it.
The real challenge, though, is not keeping old walls standing.
It's keeping those places relevant.
So when ancient streets meet a new generation of people, what is it that makes those young people want to stay?
Coming to you live from our studios in Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm Steve Hatherly.
Thank you kindly for joining us for our show today.
And for it, I'm with you, Shen and Xing Yu.
First up.
For a long time, historic districts were designed to preserve the past,
protect old buildings, restore old streets, and tell old stories.
But today, preservation alone, it's not enough.
Across China, historic neighborhoods are experimenting with something new.
Immersive performances, hands-on heritage experiences, creative small businesses,
and spaces where people don't just visit history, they kind of live inside it.
The challenge isn't simply how to keep an old city upright, but how to keep it alive.
So when you take those thousand-year-old streets and introduce them to Gen Z,