World’s fastest train destroys archaeological site in Nanjing, China
2nd September 2008
Yang Qinghua, the vice-director of the Cultural Heritage Bureau, asked for the route of the train to be changed. But the Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway company, which is in charge of the project, refused, citing its “national importance”.
The city therefore instructed the company to pay five million yuan (£410,000) to excavate the site fully before beginning work.
“These precious cultural relics absolutely must be excavated before construction continues,” said Mr Yang. “The site contains eight levels of cultural relics dating back through Chinese history. You can’t just ignore them.”
However, the company never replied and simply proceeded with the construction, destroying around 20,000 sq ft of the site in the process.
Why, those greedy capitalist bastards…. Oh, wait….