The Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage will
take good care of the cultural relics found in the construction
sites of Olympic venues, said officials with the relics'
preservation and protection team on Friday.
The officials were addressing a press conference at the
reconstruction site for two temples, one next to the National
Aquatic Center and the other near the Olympic Village.
Kong Fanzhi, the administration's director, said it would ensure
cultural relics found buried near Olympic venues would remain in
place, while artifacts unavoidably unearthed would be given to
museums for research and exhibition.
A 500-year-old temple in Beijing, used for worshiping the
goddess of childbirth, remains untouched despite construction of
the Olympics venue nearby. The Water Cube the National Aquatics
Center was moved 100 meters further north to avoid damaging the
temple.
"As most of the city's cultural relics rest inside the city wall
of Beijing, a fortification built around 1435 in the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) and now replaced by the city's second ring road, and
the city wall of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), which is located a
little further north to the north of the Third Ring Road, none of
the Olympic venues were built inside or nearby these relics-rich
city walls to ensure minimum damage to those treasures buried
underground," said Kong, who has dealt with Beijing's cultural
relics for more than 30 years.
The Water Cube, the National Aquatics Center, was moved 100
meters further north to avoid damaging a 500-year-old temple next
to it, used to worship the goddess of childbirth.
About 700 ancient tombs containing 1,100 ancient relics have
been unearthed in 17 projects operating at the construction sites
of 10 Olympic venues.
"Most of the artifacts were from civilian tombs, and we have
left the group tombs of some illustrious families in their original
state," Kong told China Daily.
Kong's team is also helping to recover ancient structures that
were once taken over by local residents a few decades ago for other
purposes, such as shelter or storage.
The remains of tombs are providing insight into the burial
customs of ancient Beijing.
Urns were widely used in civilian tombs, while similar
containers made from blue and white porcelain were commonly used
for monks.
According to Song Dachuan, head of the Beijing Historical Relics
Institute, the most valuable of the unearthed treasures were 10
jade belts, some with intricate engravings of dragons and floral
patterns.
(China Daily January 27, 2007)