About 200,000 residents of central Beijing will be moved out as part of a five-year plan to preserve the capital's heritage.
The relocations were spelled out in the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning's long-awaited 11th Five-Year Plan for the Preservation of Beijing as a Cultural and Historical City.
Under the blueprint, authorities will try to ease population pressure in the central districts by moving out within five years residents who are crowded into the old city's courtyards and narrow streets, with 'full play of legal, economic and administrative procedures'.
The plan is a general scheme for the 2006-2010 period, but was only released this week. It covers the capital's 16,410 sq km of urban and suburban areas, and includes policies on the preservation of cultural heritage, relics, buildings and the city's historic layout.
The blueprint says the city will be preserved 'as a whole' with specific attention to keeping the general flow of space, reducing population pressure, refining land use and improving infrastructure, traffic and building maintenance.
Petrol stations will no longer be built in old city areas, and upgrades to alleyways, courtyards and buildings in the districts will have to meet strict heritage standards.
