His friends and family call him "Big Feng" because he is very tall and played basketball as a young man. But he is also big in a different way- he fights hard to protect China's past. His real name is Feng Jicai and he has written many novels about life in China. Several years ago, however, he put down his pen for a while and began to protect the cultural relics in Tianjin, where he lives. Once someone asked him why he no longer wrote. He replied that at the moment he felt protecting cultural relics was more important.

   Feng loves his hometown. He believes that old things must be given a place next to new things, or people will soon forget their great past. He does not make speeches to get others to help him in his projects. Instead he goes out and does what he can himself. If others follow him, so much the better. One of his biggest projects was to protect the oldest street in Tianjin. Along that street some shops had done business for seven hundred years. Although the city government rebuilt this street, they did save its oldest building. Another project was more successful: he persuaded the city government to buy some land in the centre of the city so it could not be sold for businesses. This area is very important for the history of Tianjin. It was here that the city was first built during the Song Dynasty. Later many treasures were found here.

  To Feng, digging down into the earth is like reading page after page of a book. Each dynasty found in the earth is like an interesting story. Not long ago he and other writers and artists took photos of the old parts of Tianjin. The photos were put into a book which was very popular. The money from the book helps his projects. Once, an old man asked Feng to sign the book for him, saying he would give it to his grandson who was not yet born. Feng was glad to do it - he knows that the past is not only for us to enjoy but also for the children of the future.