All 11 parks managed by the Beijing Municipal Government - including the Temple of Heaven and Beihai Park - are poised to force out organizations and buildings that are not directly related to the parks.

The move is aimed at restoring historic buildings and landscapes to their former glory, Beijing municipal administration center of parks said Thursday.

The municipal parks are home to more than 20 historic sites that have, over the years, been occupied by public-sector offices, civil residences and restaurants, said Yuan Peng, a spokesperson for the Beijing municipal administration center of parks.

Many of the parks contain property that has been used by non-park-related groups for decades.

Tiantan Park, which is also known as the Temple of Heaven, was built in 1420 and listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1998. Some 25 percent of its original area - about 70 hectares - is now used for residences, a hospital and a municipal institute for drug control.

"We wish to restore all the original sites of Tiantan in order to represent the whole picture of past royal sacrifice ceremonies, which is crucial for this historic place," Xing Qixin, a spokesperson for Tiantan Park told METRO yesterday. "But since it involves complex issues on land policies and ownership rights, the restoration project remains in the planning stage."

Tiantan Hospital, which was built in 1956 on the site of an ancient courtyard, is set to move out.

(China Daily January 22, 2010)