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SCMP Reporter

CHINA'S insatiable drive for modernisation has brought it into conflict with its past. Of the numerous property developments, one threatens to destroy one of the country's most important historical ''treasures''.

  An article in the Beijing Youth News said work had already started on a tourist and leisure complex as a result of which parts of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Gansu province would be demolished.

  ''Huge trees in front of the Mogao caves will have to be chopped down to make way for visitors taking pictures and sight-seeing. Temples, pagodas and a san wei lan sheng gateway built during the Ching dynasty will be demolished to achieve a more symmetrical and orderly architectural effect,'' the report said.

  It said that wax models and statues would be placed at various points in the area. The site had also been earmarked for a three-star hotel, a car park and a restaurant.

  The Mogao Grottoes are the oldest Buddhist shrines in China, and are considered one of the three most important in the country.

   According to a Tang dynasty inscription, carving was started in 366 AD by a monk named Yue Zun. During the next 1,000 years, hundreds of caves containing Buddhist murals were carved out of the steep sandstone cliffs.

  The report said Chang Sha-na, the director of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, believed the plans would leave the site vulnerable to wind erosion.

  She said the trees had protected the caves from wind and soil erosion since the last century. Removing them would be ''devastating'' to Dunhuang.

  Dr Desmond Hui, a senior lecturer of architecture at the University of Hong Kong, was extremely concerned at news of the project.

  ''This will turn the area into some kind of cheap Disneyland,'' he said.

    ''They [the trees] are part of the ecological system around the grottoes and, if removed, will pose a serious threat to the monument, '' he said.

  Dr Hui said the site was ''a treasure not only for the China, but for all mankind'' and urged the authorities to proceed with caution.



Mogao caves fall to progress