Chinese Historical Relics Systematically Destroyed

According to official documents, more than 40,000 historical sites have disappeared in China within the past 30 years. Over half of them were destroyed by construction work.

According to China’s third National Heritage Census Statistics, more than 40,000 immovable cultural relics have also disappeared. An investigation revealed that to avoid archaeological investigation, some developers and local authorities intentionally destroyed historical sites.

[Professor Zhang Zanning, Southeast University School of Law]:
“During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese civilization was intentionally destroyed. Now the destruction of Chinese relics is done by various levels of government in their quest for gain. This is mainly because China’s law system lacks effective supervision. As long as it is government behavior, it does not have to be supervised.”

Late last week, NTD called the State Administration of Cultural Heritage’s Inspector Division, and its Press and Publicity Department for comment. The response: “We’ve never received any phone interviews, we cannot give you an answer.”

Within the last three years, the city of Changsha has demolished five historical sites. One of the last well-preserved museums was built during the years of Kangxi, the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Residents in Suzhou City offered to pay for the museum’s renovation, yet it was still demolished.

[Sun Wenguang, Retired Shandong University Professor]:
“Of course, on one hand, the local authorities got into this real estate to increase GDP. On the other hand, from the perspective of the entire nation, not much importance is attached to these historical relics. It does not consider them very important.”

Some netizens used the word “nefarious” or criminal, to describe the destruction of these historical relics, saying there are not many hundred-year-old buildings in a country that has a history spanning thousands of years.