Some historic buildings are open to the public once a year on China's Cultural Heritage Day, which was on Saturday this year.

A total of 90 historic buildings were open to the public. The 20 sites in Xuhui District attracted nearly 40,000 visitors and some sites stayed open longer to meet the rush.

"I spent a whole day, but only visited some of the sites," said student Teng Ying. While another resident, surnamed Zhang, who really likes old houses, was too busy to tour any on Saturday.

Wang Qiwei, an official with Xuhui District government, said yesterday they are considering opening historic buildings in the district more frequently in the future.

"But we need the cooperation of building owners," he said.

According to Wang, the former residence of Soong Mei-ling on Dongping Road is the most popular in the district and attracted 5,000 visitors on Saturday. The villa was a gift from Soong's brother on her wedding to late Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek in 1927.

Visitors queued before entering the house, which is now affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music's middle school.

The crush of visitors also can lead to some damage in the houses.

Wang said some visitors wrote on the walls and people also snuck into sections of homes not open to the public.

Officials said although they would like to give the public more access to historic homes, the preservation of these buildings is their main concern.