The urban planning department of Liwan District is working on the Upgrading Plan for the Old Urban Areas in Liwan District according to the "Adjusting the Central Areas" strategic deployment by the Guangzhou Municipal CPC Committee and the Guangzhou Municipal Government.

The plan made a detailed survey of the dangerous and shabby houses within 7 kilometers of areas within the Inner Ring Road and west of Renmin Lu. The plan also includes protection and upgrading suggestions for the dangerous and shabby house cluster areas and historical street cluster areas. The plan specially made a discussion with the respect of how to preserve the Xiguan Culture of Lingnan. Currently, the situation survey has been completed. The next move is to study specific new protection and upgrading measures and strategies.

It has been learned from Liwan District that to better preserve the Xiguan Residences, the Liwan District is to establish a Xiguan Residence and Folk-custom Scenic Area. Because the literature masterpiece of The Three Families Alley vividly describes the people and incidents of the Xiguan Residence at the beginning of the 20th century, the cultural and tourism departments are studying the story and trying to build the Xiguan Residence into a large The Three Families Alley Scenic Area. The plan has not decided on which Xiguan Residence to choose for the site yet.

The Xiguan Residences were mainly clustered on Baohua Lu, Duobao Lu, Baoyuan Lu and Fengyuan Lu. Later, the Xiguan Residence expanded to other areas in Xiguan, which were mostly built by noble families, bureaucrats or tycoons.