Cultural Exchange: Restoration is taking a hold in China

Crumbling buildings, instead of being torn down and rebuilt, are being revitalized into galleries, studios or boutiques. Beijing Design Week advances the effort.

BEIJING — Behind a scrappy red door in an old Beijing hutong, or alleyway, stands a derelict late-Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) courtyard house. The expansive space, with open ceilings that give it the feeling of an abandoned abbey, has had myriad incarnations. Believed to have started as the luxurious living area of Manchu nobility, it was turned into a school, then a plastic factory, then a hostel. Now sunlight pours through broken windows onto edgy artworks temporarily there for a design festival.

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