Uncovering a city's past

"The French leasing Guangzhouwan was indeed an act of invasion, which deserved the resistance of our nationals. But they also brought in Western culture, which deeply influenced the lives of people living in the leased area," Zhu Yu, a former director of Zhanjiang's bureau of culture, wrote in his preface to a book on contemporary buildings in Zhanjiang, published last year.

Zhu mentioned Guangzhouwan's hospital built in 1922, as well as its first power plant, constructed in 1927.

"A city without history is pitiable. Buildings record the history of a city, show historical development and witness social development," he wrote.

"Through buildings, the elderly recollect past lives, while the young get to know history to better steer the future."

Many books and papers on Guangzhouwan can be found in libraries in France, but translating them will be a mammoth task, Ye says.

A visitor to Zhanjiang, however, can still see traces of its colonial past.

The administrative offices of Guangzhouwan's former French rulers, on Haibin Road, is one of only seven remaining French colonial structures in urban Zhanjiang due to the city' rapid infrastructure development, Ye says.

Designed in the French neoclassical style, the building was constructed in 1903. It became a provincial culturally protected relic in 2002 and now regularly serves as a venue for art exhibitions.

In the 1980s, Zhu almost lost his government post when he advocated for the building's protection.

Three minutes away on foot, along Yan'an Road, is the building that used to house the French police department. Also built in 1903, it is now a district sub-station of the public security bureau.

The Catholic church, completed in 1902, still stands on Lyuyin Road and remains in use.

The former Bank of Indochina, the first contemporary bank in Guangzhouwan, built in 1926, has been used by the Zhanjiang branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China since 1984.

The Chamber of Commerce of Guangzhouwan was the largest business chamber of its time in western Guangdong. It consisted of 30 industrial chambers, such as those for department stores, shipping and textiles.

Its building, in the French classical style, was completed in 1925 and is located on Minzhu Road.

A lighthouse was built on Naozhou Island in 1900 to guide French military ships and commercial vessels. It's now one of only two crystal-mirror lighthouses still in use around the world.

The 1920s and 1940s saw the construction of many public, industrial, commercial and residential buildings that combined Chinese and Western architectural elements.

Some can still be seen around Zhanjiang, especially in Chikan district.

The city government is now resolved to protect and renovate the former French concession's architecture.

And to boost tourism, it plans to turn the area with many French buildings into a "French street".

The first phase of the project is scheduled to wrap up in September.