Harbin Railway Cultural Palace, the former site of the China Eastern Railway Club and a provincial relics reserve in Heilongjiang province, has allegedly been targeted for an illegal overhaul.

Completed in 1911, the palace was previously used as a Soviet Red Army Guild Hall and later became a club for use by railway staff in the 1950s. For many years, the brick-and-wood structure, as well as the statues and carvings inside it, were quite well preserved. The theater was turned into a dance hall two decades ago.

A cultural relics protection volunteer, Zeng Yizhi, wrote on her blog that she discovered the overhaul at the end of July when she spotted a notice describing plans to transform the structure into an exhibition hall. In September, Zeng found that an area only 6 meters away from the palace was under construction. A vintage carriage and railway had been set up east of the palace, and imported Russian commodities were being sold there. Two saleswomen said they started the operation on Sept. 29.

In October, the palace was still under construction and surrounded by waste, with all its entrances locked. One worker said that construction was expected to be finished within one week.

On Nov. 2, an employee of the Harbin Railway Bureau denied claims of the unauthorized construction. However, an executive officer in the Office of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology verified that they only received a report describing routine maintenance of the palace’s appearance.

The vintage carriage has been attracting many citizens to take photos with it. One passerby suggested making it a scenic spot; he said he had heard about plans to change it into an exhibition hall in the future, and he would rather come back to visit a scenic area.