修旧如旧
xiū jiù rú jiù
to restore something old so that it still looks old
Character by character
修xiū
repair
repair
旧jiù
old
old
如rú
like
like
旧jiù
old
old
Example
这条老街改造的时候坚持修旧如旧，青砖灰瓦都保留了下来。
When the old street was renovated, the rule was to repair the old as old, and its grey bricks and tiles were all kept.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
The guiding rule of Chinese heritage conservation: keep an object’s original look and the marks of age instead of making it look new. It goes back to the architect 梁思成, who argued that old buildings should be repaired 整旧如旧. Often 坚持修旧如旧, 按照修旧如旧的原则. Its opposite, 焕然一新 (lesson 7-1), is right for a flat and wrong for a relic.
Learn this in Lesson 235 · HSK 9+: 我在故宫修文物 (Restoring the Forbidden City’s treasures)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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