The façade of the Shangri-La Hotel in Hangzhou.
The Shangri-La Hotel in Hangzhou will probably be demolished or reduced in height 2018 when its lease contract with the Zhejiang Tourism Group expires, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.
Yu Yueming, the general manager of the Zhejiang Tourism Group, said that in 2018 they will revoke right to use the building, which is a joint venture between his group and Hong Kong's Kerry Group signed in the 1980s.
"As a State-owned enterprise, it's certainly our duty to protect the West Lake," he said.
Wang Linglong, deputy director of public relations for the Shangri-La Hotel Hangzhou, said that they had not yet received any instructions from their Hong Kong-based headquarters or the government.
"The Shangri-La Hotel will shoulder its social responsibility to protect the World Heritage Site," she said.
As the first Shangri-La hotel on the Chinese mainland, the hotel has been criticized by scholars of architecture since its construction for having a style that was deemed too modern for the West Lake setting. Further criticism has come from World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, who asked the Hangzhou government to demolish or reduce the height of the building after the West Lake qualified as a World Heritage Site in June.