Cultural relics in downtown Beijing under protection

Local officials vowed on Saturday to better protect cultural heritages in downtown Beijing to balance traditional culture and improve living condition for the locals.

Huang Yan, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, said Dongcheng and Xicheng districts are the core areas of Beijing and that there will be systematic measures to relocate excessive population to safeguard historic treasures.

Wang Shanfeng, head of Xicheng district government, said the district has 182 cultural relics with many of them dating back to the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. "Each community is required to report the status quo of its cultural heritages and any actions to damage the heritages will be punished," Wang said.

Meanwhile, the districts have been attaching great importance to protecting the Hutong (Beijing alleyways).

"The most efficient way is to decrease local population in order to reduce the possibility of causing harm to cultural heritages," Wang said.

On 57 square kilometers of land, the densely-populated district of Xicheng has 1.28 million residents.