In August, infrastructure reconstruction in the Dukezong old town is in processing (CFP)

A fire raging for nearly 10 hours on January 11, 2014 ravaged the ancient Tibetan town Dukezong in Shangri-La, southwest China's Yunnan Province, a settlement dating back 1,300 years. The blaze destroyed 343 houses. The burned-out area was 65,706 square meters, accounting for 17.81 percent of the core reserve area of the old town, and 264 shops were affected, said Guo Dongsheng, head of the general office for the old town restoration command, during a group interview in August.

Although some blocks of the old town were destroyed in the fire, other blocks still survive intact, with bars, shops, restaurants and hotels open for business as usual. Additionally, infrastructure reconstruction in the old town has now commenced.

Dakpa Kelden runs a boutique hotel and a restaurant in the old town, both sharing the moniker of Arro Khampa. The restaurant was ruined by the fire, but the boutique hotel emerged unscathed and is now in operation as usual. The 300-square-meter restaurant was built in 2005, with an investment of about 800,000 yuan ($130,081). To rebuild the restaurant, Dakpa Kelden estimates he needs about 2 million yuan ($325,203). He said he will renew the appearance of the restaurant, but use fire-proof materials this time round.

Reconstruction of the old town is scheduled for completion in three years with a total investment of 1.2 billion yuan ($195.12 million), according to Guo. The government has formulated a plan for the construction, while the necessary funds will be raised by the property owners themselves.

The plans for infrastructure and houses have been drawn up by academics from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Kunming University of Science and Technology and a Shenzhen-based architectural design company China Reconstruct.

The infrastructure reconstruction begins in May, and is due to wrap up in September. Guo said that in the course of the reconstruction, the government will pay special attention to fire control networks as well as water and power supplies so as to enhance the town's disaster-prevention and emergency response capabilities.

The command has also offered guidebooks on the restoration of houses to the affected families and set up an expert group to guide the restoration of houses. Restoration of the office building of the administration committee of the old town and six houses for a demonstration project has already started. Other houses will undergo restoration after the infrastructure reconstruction is finished.

The fire has affected the tourism industry in Deqen, the prefecture in which Shangri-La is located. According to Liu Guifen, Deputy Director of the Tourism Bureau of Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in the first half of this year, the prefecture received 5.38 million tourists, with a total revenue of 5.1 billion yuan ($829.27 million) coming from the tourist industry. However, in 2013, the prefecture received 12.46 million tourists, earning 12.7 billion yuan ($2.07 billion).

This is also the situation in Dakpa Kelden's hotel. In the first half of this year, the occupancy rate of this hotel dropped by 70 percent, but has resumed growth since July. "I believe the tourism industry will be further promoted after the old town is restored, because the Dukezong old town is unique owing to its special position along the ancient tea-horse road and its living culture," he said.

(Reporting from Shangri-La, Yunnan Province)