A demolition of the headquarter field of the former Kuomintang (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek in Yuzhong district, Chongqing municipality in Southwest China, was recently exposed to the public, Global Times reported on Feburary 16, 2012.

Photo taken on June 20, 2010 shows the headquarter field of the former Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing before demolition. [Photo/CFP]

Photo taken on February 15, 2012 shows the headquarter field of the former Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing in demolition. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Officials from Yuzhong district said that the idea of a "protective demolition," or demolition for safety purposes and a reconstruction according to original designs, was conceived during the Spring Festival in 2011.

The demolition began in December 2011 after the plan was approved by authority in November.

Luo Yu, author of a book about the preservation of cultural relics and history of Chongqing - The Lost Shangqing Temple (Shizong De Shangqingsi), is worried about the reconstruction.

"When relics are demolished and later rebuilt, the soul of history also disappears. The most valuable underground passage in the residence cannot be restored," he wrote on his Sina.com microblog.