The former residence of the late Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) in Chongqing was recently demolished, despite its status as a protected cultural relic. The local authorities defended the move as a "protective demolition" for safety purposes and reconstruction.

The residence is a municipal-level cultural relic. Such relics must get approval from the appropriate department of the State Council before being torn down. Did this demolition obtain State permission?

In the third national cultural relic census conducted over the past few years, thanks to the efforts of many residents, volunteers, experts and the media, many historical sites and former residences of famous historical figures have been included in the final list of immovable relics.

Despite this, some of them were still razed to the ground under the guise of "protection" or "maintenance."

In these cases, if no one is held accountable, public enthusiasm will be defeated and other places will follow these bad examples.

To prevent such demolitions, we need both administrative penalties and criminal punishment. According to the Law on Protection of Cultural Relics, in cases of arbitrary relocation or demolition of protected relics, the relevant cultural departments shall inflict penalties on those agencies involved.

In those serious cases in which the demolitions were continued regardless of repeated warnings and orders from the government, the public security organs and judicial authorities shall become involved, and investigate any criminal liability on the part of those who carried out the demolition.

China has stepped up the pace of its legislation to protect cultural relics. But if these regular violations are not properly punished, it sends out a negative signal about the effectiveness of the rule of law. The law must be enforced, or the violations will continue.

The Beijing News