A century-old Protestant church in Wuhan, Hubei Province has been converted into a shopping center and opened for business over the weekend with incomplete official documents, rekindling public discussions on church demolitions, reports said Monday.

The Dacheng shopping center began a test run on Saturday, after its predecessor, the Trinity Protestant Church, which was built in 1910, was demolished in 2013 as a "dangerous building," news site thepaper.cn reported, citing local urban management officials.

The three-storey church covering an area of 6,000 square meters had been cited as one of the three remaining churches in Wuhan whose architecture was a blend of Chinese and Western styles. Some local officials also tried to preserve the building, but it was demolished before a certificate was issued to prove its historical significance.

Construction of the shopping center began in June 2013 to "prevent the loss of State-owned property," said Wang Ruimin, an officer from the Wuchang district urban management bureau in Wuhan.

However, Wang said that the shopping center failed to complete all the formalities and approvals before construction, indicating the local government decides the fate of the shopping center.