CHINA: China steps up efforts to preserve cultural relics at Olympic venue sites

China is taking measures to protect cultural relics at sites where Olympic-related construction is underway in preparation for the 2008 Beijing games. China says efforts have been made to preserve building and relics of cultural value at its Olympic venue sites, including two ancient temples which are being renovated on the Olympic Green. The Goddess Temple, dedicated to a Taoist goddess, is a group of wood-framed buildings with traditional Chinese tiled pavilion roofing -- a stands as a stark contrast to the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, one of the main 2008 Beijing Games venues. After surveying more than a million square metres of land at all 31 venue sites in the city, archaeologists said they had discovered more than 700 tombs and 1500 artifacts ranging from jade belts to Ming dynasty glassware. The discovery of the temple had forced planners to relocate the aquatic centre 100 metres north of its original planned location. Kong Fanzhi, head of Beijing Relics Preservation Bureau, told reporters Friday (January 26). "We have taken several measures to preserve these cultural relics. For example, we tried to avoid those relics when picking up location of the Olympic venues. This temple you are seeing right now is here because we moved the swimming center up to the north for 100 meters. We also stayed way from a tomb site and converted it into a national park. Before doing any construction work, we would have experts do some research and excavation," said Kong. The site of the Olympic Green was chosen specifically because it was outside the walls of the Yuan and Ming Dynasty cities, Kong added. "We took these measures to make our construction work easier and preserve these cultural relics at the same time. We were trying to find a balance between these two goals," said Kong. Another temple of similar Ming vintage dedicated to the "Dragon God of Rivers" sits opposite what will be the athletes' village. Beijing is building or renovating 31 venues for the Games, and has embarked on a $40 billion upgrade of the city's infrastructure. Last October, work was halted at the Beijing Olympic shooting venue after workers found an imperial-era tomb several hundred meters away from the site of several Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) tombs unearthed during construction of the shooting range hall in May. Archaeologists in Greece were also kept busy in the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Games, with antiquities discovered at several Olympic venue sites. ENDS

ITN Source | February 3, 2007

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