Authorities Ban Construction Near Heritage RuinsAfter learning of plans to build a luxury hotel and entertainment arcade near the 4,000-year-old cultural ruins in Sichuan Province, a senior heritage official said any construction which endangers cultural relics must be banned.Real estate developers must obtain approval from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) within a designated 12- square-kilometer area near Sanxingdui, an important relics site in Guanghan County, SACH Deputy Director Zhang Bai was quoted as saying in Guangming Daily. Archaeologists theorize that Sanxingdui might be the ruins of the largest oriental city in the world, dating back from between 2, 875 to 4,070 years ago. Many treasured relics of the ancient Shu Kingdom are contained in the ruins, the newspaper reported. The proposed multi-million-yuan investment into the hotel and entertainment arcades stirred heated debate among local people and the concern of archaeologists. Heritage watchdogs in the southwest province have requested that four rural brick mills be closed down, the newspaper said. |
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