Profiting from culture

Is cultural heritage a burden on or a contributor to economic growth? The first blue book of its kind on the development of cultural heritage published by the Development Research Center of the State Council by the weekend suggests that it is a contributor. The statistics in the report indicate that the contribution from cultural heritage to economic growth is eight times as many as the investment in its protection and management.

The message is obvious that the cultural heritage of a country or people should be protected even if only from the viewpoint of making a profit, to say nothing of its cultural value, which can never be measured by money.

Then why does it become a frequent occurrence that some cultural heritages are vandalized even with the tacit approval from local governments when they are in the way of some economic projects?