Dukezong, with a history of 1,300 years, has been the cultural, economic and transportation hub of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet. It keeps the largest group of Tibetan-style residential architectures in China.

 

In 2014, Dukezong was destroyed by fire. After several years’ repair, it has been restored. However, the development of the city saw a bottleneck due to lack of green landscape, insufficient parking places and public toilets.

 

To solve the problem, Diqing introduced the refurbishment project which covers 3.05 square kilometers with a building area of a total of 600,000 square meters.

 

Tao Yonggang, deputy director of the Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in Diqing, said that the refurbishment of the city will keep in tone with the style of the ancient city. Parking places will be enlarged and community and tourism services will be improved. The project will promote the integrated development of tourism and culture in Diqing and boost tourism to be the mainstay of Diqing’s economy.