Dashilan to be Qianmenized? (2)

"This report should have been issued before the construction started, since there are many historic structures involved," she said.

Cui Jinze, a member of the Chinese Commission for the International Council on Monuments and Sites, has been to the location several times.

Despite the assurances of protection in the report, some historic buildings dating from the early 20th century have already been ruined, he said.

"Beijing Quanyechang consists of one main building and two side buildings, but now the west building is all gone," he said. Cui noted that the building is protected and should not be demolished.

Kong Fanzhi, the director of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, told the Global Times that the renovation project was approved last year.

Although there are a number of historic buildings on Langfang Toutiao, the same street as Beijing Quanyechang, Kong said only the former department store is on the national cultural relic protection list.

"We will fix up Quanyechang in the same way we treat all other protected cultural heritage sites," he said, adding that he and his staff would visit the site tomorrow, to ensure the renovation is being implemented according to the cultural protection plan for the area.

All the historic buildings within the site should be preserved, said Cui, because they are inside the Dashilan cultural heritage protection area.

"There are dozens of historic buildings to the south of Beijing Quanyechang. These buildings are within the construction site's scope and they will all be demolished to build new ones instead," he said.

The commission of urban planning would not comment Thursday.