Dalian officials, aiming to make way for safer and more comfortable apartments, are demolishing hundreds of homes built by the Japanese during their 40-year occupation of this northeastern coastal city.
The demolition of two-story European-style villas in the hilly 1-sq.-km Nanshan District is part of a citywide housing redevelopment project that is chiseling away at a unique 100-year-old heritage but is also providing more heating and more space for residents at a fair price.
Dalian joins Beijing and Shanghai in a struggle to modernize while preserving the past.
"You've got to demolish things, but what do we do with the relics?" asked Dalian Mayor Xia Deren, summarizing the debate.