In late December, China announced the final draft of its Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics, which states that the unauthorised removal or demolition of unmovable cultural relics will incur criminal charges and fines of up to Rmb1m (£100,000). It bans so-called maintenance demolition and rebuilding of original sites and states that new construction that could damage relics must gain local government approval. Lawmakers were seeking feedback from the public as we went to press.
