A restored display of damaged houses after a war during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is exhibited at a museum in Heilongjiang Province.

Nestled between crowded buildings at Chaoyangmen in Beijing, the Lianyuan Garden, a bungalow that was once a private garden built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), is currently undergoing massive construction inside, in spite of the fact it was named a cultural relic and was supposed to remain protected, the Beijing News reported.

The Lianyuan Garden is not the only historical relic to fall prey to real estate development, similar tragedies are also happening in other cities throughout China including Chongqing, and Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province.

"Such a phenomenon shows the conflicts between the preservation of cultural relics and the exploitation of real estate," Shen Wangshu, deputy director at the Institute of Capital Cultural Development at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Damaged culture

The Lianyuan Garden, which once boasted an area of 3,600 square meters filled with verandas, flower halls, pools and pavilions, stood as a representation of Chinese traditional gardening art, and had a high value of appreciation, the Architectural Society of Beijing once described in a report.

However, as a result of the interior construction, the historic garden now looks different from its original appearance because its man-made hills have been destroyed and its plants have been removed, according to the report.

Nearby residents said the site has been remolded several times due to demolitions and private construction, and its total area has decreased to fewer than 500 square meters.

Similar historical preservation issues have also risen in Chongqing and Nanjing.

General Hill, a place that had a large area of graves where a famous general from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and his descendants in Nanjing were buried, and was included as a protected historical site by Jiangsu Province, has diminished. The graves were removed and the hillside was flattened by real estate developers in order to make way for new villas, the Beijing News said.

Similar to the aforementioned examples, Chencheng Mansion, built during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), and was supposed to be protected by the Chongqing government, also fell prey to real estate development. It is now a high-class private restaurant while most of the mansion's original décor was been destroyed.

Many people were shocked about the changes the historic site underwent. "I wanted to take my parents to visit Chencheng Mansion, but was told I was not allowed to go inside because it is now a private restaurant," a Web user under the name CainiaoSingeL wrote on his Sina Weibo account, "If historic sites can easily be purchased, then will Tiananmen Square be bought by some rich people as well?"

Problems and solutions

The Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics says that people can make "reasonable use" of historical sites without giving specific criteria of what is allowed and what isn't, which leaves space for developers to use the sites for commercial purposes.

"The regulations on the preservation of cultural relics might be vague, but the root of this phenomenon is due to poor implementation of the existing regulations," Shen Wangshu told the Global Times Wednesday, adding that both the local government and people lack awareness when it comes to preserving China's history.

According to Shen, the local government usually chooses to develop its economy first rather than preserve its cultural relics, and therefore historic sites are usually destroyed or changed in order to make way for real estate development.

Besides, many local residents, especially those who are living in or among the historical sites, are not supportive of preserving the locations because the living conditions (at the historical sites) are not that good.

"Therefore, the most important thing is to cultivate people's awareness when it comes to protecting cultural relics, and then the local government should shoulder the responsibility of preserving the historical sites while developing the local economy," Shen suggested.

Lü Lixin, director of the Art Evaluation Committee with the Ministry of Culture, agreed. He added the local government should offer other housing options for those living in the historical sites and address their problems, which would then inspire them to become active in protecting the sites.

Lü added that only when the central government makes more detailed regulations and creates a better system to reinforce the management of the preservation of historical sites, and local government becomes actively involved in the process, then the historical sites will truly be protected.

This year a few cities have made plans to protect their historical sites as the Dongcheng district government in Beijing announced the establishment of a special fund of 100 million yuan ($15.6 million), which will be used to preserve its cultural relics.