A national heritage park in the northwestern city of Xi'an has torn down newly completed buildings to meet World Heritage Site demands. Only two sculptures from the famous Chongming Gate remain. [Photo:cnr.cn]

The pavement stones on Wangyue Square in the park have been removed. [Photo:cnr.cn]

Daming Palace Heritage Park, which is expected to open on National Day (October 1), is filled with piles of construction debris. [Photo:cnr.cn]

Management at a national heritage park in the Northwestern city of Xi'an has come under fire following its moves to tear down newly completed buildings, modeled after ancient ones, inside the park before its October opening.

The demolition of three such buildings in the 40-billion-yuan ($5.89 billion) Xi'an Daming Palace National Heritage Park is being fiercely criticized as a waste of money.

Daming Palace is well known for its illustration of the economic and cultural prosperity of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

The park, located one mile north of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) city wall of Xi'an, covers 3.7 square kilometers, media reports said.

Zheng Peng, a 30-year-old technician living in the city, told the Global Times Thursday that the designer of the project should be blamed for the thoughtless plan that has wasted a lot of money and resources to remove the sites.

In order to quell public outcry, the planning and promotion bureau under the preservation office of Xi'an Daming Palace Heritage Park said in a statement Thursday that "during the construction of the heritage park, we got official guidelines to help the Daming Palace Heritage site better meet world cultural heritage demands."

A staff member with the preservation office, who declined to be named, told the Global Times that the archaeological value of the venues of the three sites was not that high, according to an earlier evaluation.

She said the construction project was reviewed when it became known that the park could be submitted for recognition as a World Cultural Heritage site.

"Any change during the construction process is understandable, since it is aimed at better displaying the cultural connotation of the heritage," the bureau said.

According to the statement, the Xi'an Daming Palace Great Heritage Preservation Project is an important component of the "Silk Road" Heritage Project, which the local government plans to submit for UNESCO world heritage status.

"The management's practice is understandable since one of the key requirements to apply for the World Cultural Heritage is to maintain the site's authenticity and integrity," Sun Keqin, a professor with the China University of Geosciences, told the Global Times.

But he noted that spending a massive amount to rebuild the palace was ill-conceived, adding that the local government is shortsighted regarding the value of Daming Palace, which is possibly worth a spot on the World Cultural Heritage list.

"Some local governments are blindly following suit," he said.

The demolition of the artificial tourist sites came after the Danxia Landform in 6 localities and the historic architectural complex of the Shaolin Temple in Central Henan Province were added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list early this month.