A 600-year-old street in Gyalze county in the Tibet autonomous region is still home to about 100 households. The local government is working with experts from Shanghai to preserve the cultural heritage of the area. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

In recent years, Gyalze's local government has been working to find ways to protect the old street's heritage from being drowned in commercial real estate activity.

The street is now home to about 100 local households. Walking down the street, visitors can find cows, sheep and dogs lying right in front of people's houses, as most local families rely on animal husbandry for a living.

Tashi Thondup, deputy director of the tourism bureau of Gyalze, says since 2013, the county government has worked with Cao's team from Shanghai to protect the old street's heritage.

By visiting the street twice each year, Cao and his team have made an evaluation, based on which only 13 old houses will be refurbished in the future. The other houses will remain untouched.

Cao urged Tashi Thondup and the other local officials to ask people to continue living in the street so that its heritage is preserved.

"One common problem (with urbanization) is that old streets are easily turned into commercial areas, with houses becoming shops and restaurants, and people no longer living in such places," Cao says, adding that when such areas develop, people tend to move out to modern houses.

"The best way to maintain an old house is to have people actually living in it. It is also the best way to preserve a street with heritage," he says.

Tashi Thondup says the county government is now rebuilding a street parallel to the old street that can be commercially developed instead of disturbing life in the old street of Gyalze.