Rumors about a former residence of late Chinese scholar Kang Youwei being slated for demolition are untrue, said government authorities yesterday, while developers claimed the protected site will be demolished for reconstruction.

Kang's former house, also known as Nanhai Guildhall in Mishi Hutong, Xicheng district, will be replaced by a new siheyuan (courtyard house), said Luqiu Luwei, a journalist with Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, who posted the information on her microblog Monday.

"I heard a property project is going on there," she wrote in the entry, "Will this historic place be gone for good and become a luxury club instead?"

Web users are denouncing the government's oversight after the post, saying all the capital's old relics and historic sites will be destroyed for commercial purposes if this continues.

"We've ordered the Xicheng cultural commission to make an inspection," said the Municipal Cultural Heritage Administration on its official microblog Tuesday. According to the administration, the site will be protected, but no detailed measures were revealed. Administration head Kong Fanzhi was unavailable for comment yesterday.

A media officer with Xicheng district government, surnamed Shi, said they have not heard about the demolition.

"The government will make sure the relics are unharmed," Shi said.

Mishi Hutong is where many guildhalls and former residences of historic figures were located. Kang lived at No.43 from 1882 to 1898, and was well known for engineering a short-lived constitutional reform in imperial China. The courtyard came under city control in 1984.

Although authorities denied the demolition, developer CITIC Real Estate told the Global Times it will be demolished and rebuilt at the original site, for protection purposes.

"Municipal cultural authorities have approved the project designs," said an anonymous publicity employee with CITIC. The CITIC City project, which concerns Kang's house, covers 436,500 square meters within Beijing's Second Ring Road, to the southeast of Caishikou Lu, and includes hotels, office buildings, schools, shopping malls and "limited edition" courtyards. Construction of Phase I began in May 2008.

The former residence is old and dangerous, and tenants have greatly damaged its original structure, she said.

"Our project involves several protected sites. Some are rebuilt and some are relocated," she said. Cultural authorities will oversee the reconstruction, she said.

Zeng Yizhi, a cultural heritage campaigner, said, "Tearing down such a protected site is illegal," explaining the plan should be aimed at repairs rather than a reconstruction.