Reconstruction project looks suspiciously like destruction

Is the 100-year-old Taohuawu neighborhood in downtown Suzhou, Jiangsu province, being renovated or destroyed?

That's a question now circulating on the Internet. The reconstruction of Taohuawu, which literally translates as "the Peach Blossom Dock", was announced two years ago. The project was intended to refurbish antique buildings, improve locals' living conditions and promote tourism.

But this past May, Song Weijian, an architect and vice-director of the Architectural Society of China's interior design branch, had an experience that cast doubt on whether those aims were being strictly pursued.