More than 100 residential houses and restaurants and 40-mu military barracks around Yunju Temple in Beijing will be dismantled due to their destructive influences on sightseeing and cultural relics protection, according to the chief of the Yunju Temple Administrative Office.

Moreover, the ropeway across the Shijing Mountain in that area will also be removed. Yunju Temple plans to inject over 300 million yuan into this large reconstruction project.

Yunju Temple has signed up for application for its inclusion in the World Cultural Heritage List, which will be revised once every ten years, said Beijing Youth Daily.

According to the application standard, there should be no modern constructions 2 kilometers around the core of a World Cultural Heritage site. To ensure the success of the application, Yunju Temple intends to spend 5 years in dismantling work. Green lands and parking area will be extended after completion of the project.

Established in the Tang Dynasty, Yunju Temple in Beijing's Fangshan District is a famous Buddhist shrine in the north of China.

(Chinanews.cn December 26, 2006)