Qiu Baoxing, a vice minister of construction, hit out at local officials who have "devastated" historical sites and cultural relics with their "senseless actions", said Xinhua News Agency. He is reported as criticising the "blind pursuit of large, new and exotic" buildings by some local governments.
The country’s historical and cultural heritage is facing its third round of havoc since New China was founded in 1949, said Qiu. The first two occurred during the "Great Leap Forward" of the late 1950s, and the "Cultural Revolution," from1966 to 1976, when huge numbers of relics and sites of historical value were demolished.
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