The Gongchen Tower, an city gate tower with more than 600 years of history, was destroyed by an unexpected fire recently in Weishan county, Yunnan Province. It is indeed lamentable for the point of view of heritage protection. 

As the landmark building of Weishan's old city, the tower can be dated back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It shaped a beautiful collective memory for local people: from its heights, they could have a full view of the city's antique features and gaze upon the snowy scenes of the famous Cang Mountain, 70 kilometers away. But after the blaze, these memories, like the tower, are nothing but ashes.

An investigation by local authorities revealed an electrical equipment malfunction caused the fire, an excuse unwelcomed by the public. The public criticism over this issue is that as it is inscribed on the provincial culture heritage list, this tower should not have been leased to a commercial teahouse and the commercial development should be held responsible. 

Yang Fuquan, a cultural expert from Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, thinks that local government paid more attention to developing the tower for profit than protecting it, so that its investment in fire safety equipment was lacking and scrutiny of the enforcement of fire safety rules was not tight. The latest report by Yunnan Daily vindicated Yang's opinion: Four years ago, the local heritage administration had a fire risk report delivered, mentioning the deficiency of the electrical equipment and the potential risks of commercial development within the tower. However, it was not treated seriously, and no improvements were made. This unwillingness to implement fire-safety standards should be blamed for the Gongchen Tower burning down.

Fires in old towns are not new in China. Last year, in Shangri-La, Yunnan, a fire devastated the 1300-year-old Dukezong, the biggest old Tibetan-style town in China, and caused economic losses of 100 million yuan ($16.5 million). These old towns have one thing in common: They are overdeveloped commercially but with a weak fire-fighting capacity.

As more old towns are developed, excessive human activities have increasingly threatened their safety. To seek profits, many developers have added modern facilities to old towns, some even rearranging their structures in order to create more room for rent, which not only has changed their unique features, but also buried the seeds of future risks.

Like in Weishan, bars, shops, restaurants, travel agencies and residential houses are crowded into confined spaces, and modern facilities in these units have caused power consumption to skyrocket, overburdening the aging wires.

What's worse, little room is reserved for fire-fighting equipment and few fire buffer zones are created. No wonder the Gongchen Tower was so vulnerable to fire.

In recent years, many old towns have been ruined by fires, which unfortunately signifies the demise of many tangible cultural artifacts. Every fire is a painful lesson that alerts us to the fact that fire-fighting should be strengthened and fire safety rules implemented strictly, because every old town is a unique part of Chinese culture, which nobody can afford to lose.

Lei Xiangping, editor with the news desk of China Radio International