A facelift project in Beijing of the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, will continue as scheduled despite calls for public hearings.
Officials with the State Bureau of Cultural Relics confirmed that work will continue after an article carried by China Youth Daily suggested that public hearings should be held to decide on the general plan for the expensive renovation project.
"Since the Palace Museum is considered a world as well as a national treasure, its repairing is a public affair, which will have psychological influences on all Chinese people," said the article.
The first-phase project on the Wuning Palace is going ahead smoothly while other projects are expected for the end of this year or early next year.
All projects will be completed before 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympic Games.
An official with the State Bureau of Cultural Relics said that it is not realistic to hold public hearings because of the "professional nature" of the project.
An official with the Palace Museum earlier expressed the same view.
"I don't think it is necessary for ordinary people to take part in the project. The issue is too professional," he said in late April.
He noted that the facelift plan was formulated after repeated discussions among experts and officials.
"We invited many experts and officials to discuss the general repairing plan. We conducted pilot projects whose results were used to revise our plan," the official with the Palace Museum said.
He said it is up to the State Bureau of Cultural Relics to decide whether to hold a public hearing or not.
However, Ma Bingjian, an expert with the Beijing Relic Building Designing and Research Institute, said that a public hearing is a good thing.
It may offer an opportunity for people from all walks of life to exchange their ideas on the maintenance project and thus enhance the transparency of the whole issue.
Actually, there remain disputes over the refurbishment work among various experts and officials as a result of poor communications, according to a report from the Nanfang Weekend newspaper.
Some experts did not agree with the current plans, especially for the construction of a large underground relics exhibition hall.
(China Daily May 9, 2002)
