Listed mill makes way for museum in Xi'an

A mill more than 100 years old, listed as intangible cultural heritage, has been demolished to make way for a museum, China Youth Daily reported on Monday. 

The mill, in mountainous Luanzhen township in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, was built late in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), with the report saying it was one of the few century-old oil mills in China.

In 2008, as the mill was still using an ancient technique to extract oil from plants, it was listed under a provincial intangible cultural heritage protection project by the Shaanxi provincial government.

Gao Rangrang, an oil extraction worker for more than 30 years, and his son were named as inheritors of the ancient oil extraction technique in 2009 by the provincial government. However, they were told by the township management office last year that the site would be used to build a museum.

The report said the museum includes a display area showing what the ancient mill was like, but Gao and his son are not allowed to extract oil on the site.

The mill was demolished at the end of last year, and Gao had to build another in the back yard of his house to make a living and preserve the ancient extraction technique.

Experts said such protection has lost its meaning.