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RESTORATION CONDEMNED

A news item released by the Ministry of Culture on 27 September strongly condemns the plan to rebuild one of the palace gates of Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness). [See our report, 'Plan to Rebuild Palace Gate Opposed' in Briefs] The release is unusual for its defence of the role of the Chinese press in fighting for the preservation of historical monuments threatened by development or reconstruction.

In support of its case, the Ministry of Culture invokes the law on cultural heritage protection, which 'explicitly stipulates that the ruins of immovable cultural heritage sites should be left as they are, if the site has already been damaged beyond recovery'. The ministry argues that the reconstruction of buildings in Yuanming Yuan is thus 'prohibited' under the law, and that there can be 'little doubt that the law applies in this case'. The ministry then points out that if reconstruction is deemed necessary, the matter must be referred to the State Council.

The Yuanming Yuan Park is administered by a management group under the Beijing municipal government, who the ministry alleges have kept 'the general public in the dark about the entire project'. The ministry compares the latest move by the park authorities to their disastrous attempt in 2005 to line the lakebeds of the former garden palace complex with plastic sheeting, described as 'a prime example of planning gone wrong'. The ministry comments: 'Had it not been for the reports by the press and then a debate both online and in the major media, the environment of this site would have been damaged as the plastic sheets harmed the quality of the water'. However, the ministry does not mention Nanfang zhoumo (Southern weekend), the Guangzhou-based newspaper which first broke the story about the PVC lake linings at Yuanming Yuan, a newspaper which has often been in conflict with the Ministry of Culture on heritage issues.

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