XI'AN: Many Chinese cities, provinces and regions face a tug of war between speeding up economic development and properly protecting historical heritage.

It is especially true of Shaanxi, in Northwest China, a slow-developing province with many historical ruins, ancient buildings and cultural relics above and under ground.

According to Zhang Tinghao, director of Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Shaanxi is a powerhouse of historical relics, with 35,700 fixed cultural relics over its land, of which many are large-scale.

Shaanxi has made strenuous efforts to protect its ancient cultural heritage while engaging in economic development, Zhang said.

One successful story Zhang told is the relocation of a brick-making factory from the protection zone of Maoling, imperial mausoleum of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 24) in July this year.

The factory had produced bricks for more than 10 years, posing danger to the ancient tomb. But it was a profitable enterprise for local farmers and a good tax contributor to local government coffers in today's Xingping City.

The cultural heritage department could not simply close the factory, Zhang said.

"We finally found a new place to rebuild the factory and gave local farmer-owners 200,000 yuan (US$24,100) in compensation," Zhang said.

Another example is a new township now under construction in a new district in Lintong County. The new rural town will become home to some 6,000 local people, who currently live in the protection zone of the imperial mausoleum of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

The relocation project, a decision made by the central government, started in 2002. Investment from the central government's coffers amounts to 500 million yuan (US$60.24 million).

"It will take three years to complete the project," Zhang said.

By then the local people should have better living conditions while the protection zone of the Qin tomb will be a large ancient ruins park in China, Zhang said.

All efforts to protect Chinese cultural relics in the province follow the State Council's "Notice on Strengthening the Work of Historical Relics Protection and Management in the Western Development" in 2000. The decree lists concrete requirements on protecting large ancient sites.

The local government has also worked out measures to launch protection projects with the fund both from central and local governments, Zhang said.

In the Cultural Relics Protection and Management Regulations of Shaanxi Province, issued by the local government, it stipulates that in carrying on building projects or agricultural production, any findings should be protected and reported to the local cultural departments concerned, and any excavation and further destruction should be banned.

Ruins threatened

But Zhang admitted that not all prospects are rosy. In its drive for economic take-off, the province, sadly, has seen historical sites being bulldozed or damaged.

On October 15, following a demand from the central government, the Shaanxi provincial government ordered that all stone-quarrying activities be stopped within a month in the protection zone of 18 imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty (AD 918-907).

"We examined these stone quarries around the ancient tombs on Monday and made sure they had all been closed," said Chen Jianqi, official with Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage.

Chen said illegal quarrying has endangered the 18 Tang imperial tombs distributed along the hills between Xianyang and Wennan municipalities in Shaanxi, despite the local government's repeated efforts and legal prohibition since 1980s.

"The style and features of the 10 cemetery parks of the 18 imperial tombs have suffered serious damage. Some tombs have been infringed upon and tunnels opened. The main body of the cemetery was threatened by the surrounding stone pits," Chen said.

The 18 mausoleums for 18 emperors of the Tang Dynasty, built with the stone hills as their tomb body, are all key sites under State protection.

They have been equated to the Pyramids since they represent an age which arguably was the zenith in ancient Chinese civilization.

Chen said there were about 10 stone pits around one ancient tomb - which he wouldn't specify - and these pits occupied nearly 67 hectares.

As far as the local economy is concerned, the mountainous and semi-mountainous area is arid and barren. The local farmers each has only 0.067 hectares of low-yield farmland, according to Duan Guoqiang, government official of Fuping, one of the six counties with the ancient tombs.

As a result, stone quarrying has become one of the new "pillar" industries for the six local counties and one of most important means for local farmers to make money, Chen said.

In the county's Sanfeng Village, for instance, the farmers earned only 300 yuan (US$36) per person from farming last year, but made some 8,000 yuan (US$964) by selling stone, Duan said.

"The incomes from quarrying, building stone processing and stone engraving constitute some 70 per cent of the annual income for local farmers as well as local finance," Duan said.

Local villagers claimed that the stones dug from around the imperial tombs are certainly superior. Local cement plants buy them for making high-quality cement.

Black jade and huge rocks quarried from the ancient tombs' zone are sold very well in domestic or even international markets.

"To develop the economy, the local governments support the cement industry and stone quarries at the same time. They neglected protection of historical relics when they approved the construction projects," said Zhang Tinghao.

There is not just one item of bad news from the Tang Dynasty cemetery.

The ruins of Epanggong Palace, the largest and most beautiful imperial palace built in the Qin Dynasty, also faces the problem of protection or development.

Located in the western suburbs of Xi'an, the provincial capital, the 14-square-kilometre protection zone has been nibbled away at with continuing urban construction and economic development, Zhang said.

"On the rammed soil base of the previous hall are all orchards and fields, and villagers have dug several dozens of motor-pumped wells for irrigation. Some of the wells are dozens of metres deep. Also, the local farmers have built some 200 graves on the ancient ruins," said Lei Hong, director of the ruins protection office.

The archaeological materials show that the ruins of the Qin palace's front hall were 1,320 metres long from east to the west, but today only 1,200 metres remain. More than 100 metres have been nibbled away with the expansion of a village, just next to the ruins.

In 1996, a road linking the city and Xi'an-Baoji Expressway cut the ruins into two parts, Lei said.

"Urbanization not only makes the surrounding environment of the ruins worse, but also changes the way of life and thinking of the local villagers. Transient economic benefits bring them more to enjoy than relics protection," Lei said.

Conflict with economic growth

Experts point out that with the drive for rapid economic growth, more land resources are required. The ancient ruins in Shaanxi often occupy large stretches of land that appeal to developers and investors.

They say that it is not realistic to emphasize the protection of relics while ignoring the local people's desire for improving their lives and pursuing economic prosperity.

Zhao Rong, director of Cultural Heritage Protection and Planning Centre of the Northwest University, said: "The complete closed management in the tombs' zone is not feasible.

"But the local farmers could be encouraged to change the local money-making businesses according to the market demand naturally."

Zhao said that Liquan, also one of the six counties of the imperial cemetery, is a famous production base of apples, an advantage local farmers can make the most of.

Zhao's centre has developed a new project, which centres around how to protect the Tang Dynasty imperial cemetery of the 18 tombs while assisting the local farmers in their economic development.

For instance, the traditional production mode of the local farmers might be instructed to change based on local conditions, so that conflicts with protection work be minimized and farmers' economic status improved.

Zhao said the plan has been sent to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for approval.

"If feasible, it may offer a way both for protection of the ancient ruins and for development of local economy," Zhao said.

(China Daily 12/10/2004 page5)